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Physics Concepts Document

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13 views2 pages

Physics Concepts Document

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abc
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Physics Concepts Document

Newton’s laws

1) Aim of Newton’s laws: To predict the motion of a given body if other bodies in its surroundings are
specified.

2) First law (law of inertia): “Every particle (or body) persists in its state of rest or uniform motion in a
straight line unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force”.

This means that the state of motion with constant velocity is as natural as that of the state of rest.

3) Second law (law of motion): “Rate of change of linear momentum of a particle (or body) with time
is equal to the force acting on the particle (or body)”.

Or

“Linear momentum of a body changes in the direction of force acting on it”.

This is expressed as: , where .

If the mass of the particle remains constant, we can also express the above law as : .

4) Third law (law of action - reaction): To every action (force) there is equal and opposite reaction
(another force). That is, the forces always exist in pairs.

The action reaction pair of forces act on different bodies, are simultaneous and lie along the line
joining the bodies.

5) Vector addition of forces: Two or more forces acting on a particle can be added according to the
laws of vector addition to give a resultant force.

6) What is force: Force is that influence that causes change in state of rest or of constant velocity
motion of a body. A given force always originates in some body in the surroundings.

7) Force laws: The equation is useful if the force term is given. Then we can determine the
acceleration and hence the motion of the particle. The force term expressed as an equation is called
the force law. Examples are gravitational force, electrostatic force, spring force, drag force etc.
8) What is mass: Mass is the measure of inertia of a particle and determines the resistance of the
particle to change in its state of rest or uniform motion.

9) Measurement of mass and force: Mass and force can be measured by the application of Newton’s
second law of motion.

10) Reference frame: It is rigid body with respect to which we measure position, velocity and
acceleration of a body under consideration.

11) Inertial and non-inertial frames:

a) Inertial reference frame is that in which Newton’s laws of motion are valid. This means that a
force acting on a given can always be associated with another body in the surroundings.

Any frame of reference which is moving with constant velocity with respect to an inertial frame
is also inertial. The best inertial frame which we can imagine is that having the origin in space
and its three coordinate axes point to distant stars.

b) Non-inertial frame is that in which Newton’s laws of motion are invalid. A force observed to act
on a body cannot be associated with another body in the surroundings. We call such a force as
pseudo or fictitious force.

A reference frame which is acceleration or rotating with respect to an inertial frame is non-
inertial. Earth is, strictly speaking, a non-inertial frame. But for most practical purposes, we
consider it to be inertial.

12) Fictitious forces

a) Fictitious forces are invented in non-inertial frames to be able to apply Newton’s laws
b) In a translating non-inertial frame, pseudo force is introduced.
c) In a rotating frame:
i) Centrifugal force acts on a every particle
ii) Coriolis force acts on a particle is it is in relative motion.

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