FORCES AND MOTION

What is Forces?
You cannot see a force but you can see what it does. A force is a push or a pull.

Forces can:

 Make an object move

 Make a moving object stop

 Change the speed of a moving object

 Change the direction of a moving object

 Change the shape of an object.

How To Measure A Force?

 A force can be measured with a newton spring balance.

 The SI unit of measuring force in N (newton)

 Equation: F=m x a

o F= force (N)

o m= mass (kg)

o a= acceleration (m/s²)

Type of Force
 There are two main types of forces: contact force and non-contact force

Contact Force

 A contact force occurs when the object or material exerting the force touches the object

or material on which the force acts.

 Example:

o Impact force
 When a moving object collides with a stationary object an impact force is exerted by one

object on the other.

 Example: Hammer hits a nail, and when a moving molecule of gas in the airstrikes the

skin

o Strain force

 When some materials are squashed, stretched, twisted, or bent, they exert a force that

acts in the opposite direction to the force acting on them. It’s called elastic material

 When the force applied to the material is removed, the strain force exerted by the

material restores the deformed material to its original shape.

 Example: The strain force in a squashed tennis ball as it is hit returns the ball to its

original shape when the ball has left the racket.

o Friction

 Friction is a contact force that occurs between two objects when there is a push or a pull

on one of the objects that could make it move over the surface of the other object.

 As the push or pull on the object increases, the force of friction between the surfaces of

the object also increases. This force matches the strength of the push or the pull up to a

certain value.

 Where the projections from the surface of one object meet the projections from the

surface of the other, the materials in the projection stick. These connections between

the surfaces produce the force of friction between the object.

 Reducing friction: Water running between the surface of a tire and the road reduces the

friction between them and increases the chance of skidding.

 Increasing friction: When brakes are applied on a bicycle or a car, the brake pads press

against a moving part of the wheel, and the force of friction increases.

o Air resistance

 When an object moves through the air it pushes the air out of the way and the air moves

over the object’s sides and pushes back on the object. This push on the object is

called air resistance or drag

 The value of the air resistance depends on the size and shape of the object.

 Example: The parachute offers a large surface area against which the air pushes. The

high resistance of the parachute slows down the dragster and helps it stop in a short

distance.

o Water resistance

 When an object moves through the water it pushes the water out of the way, and the

water moves over the object’s sides and pushes back on the object. This push on the

object is called water resistance or drag.

 An object that can move through the water quickly have a streamlined shape

 Example: Water resistance affects the movement of ships and boats on the water

surface. Boats designed for high speeds have a hull shaped to reduce water resistance

as much as possible.

Non-contact force

 A non-contact force occurs when the objects or materials do not touch each other. They

all exert their force without having to touch the object.

 Example:

o Magnetic force
 If you bring the north pole of one magnet towards the south pole of another magnet, you

will feel your hands being pulled together as the different poles attract each other. The

strength of this pull increases as the poles get closer together.

 A magnet can also exert a non-contact force on objects made of iron, steel, cobalt, or

nickel. Either pole of the magnet exerts a pulling force on these magnetic materials. The

strength of the force increases as the magnet and the magnetic material are brought

closer together.

o Gravitational force

 The force that exists between any two masses because of their mass is

called gravitational force.

 The gravitational force between an object on earth and the earth itself pulls the object

down towards the center of the earth is called the weight of the object.

 The mass of an object is a measure of the amount of matter in it. The weight of an

object is the pull of the Earth’s gravity on the object.

 The region in which a force acts is called a field

 gravitational field strength: weight/mass

 Unit: N/kg

 Weightlessness: The gravitational field strength around a planet, moon, or star gets

weaker and weaker as you move further away

 Example: Inside the spacecraft every object that is not held down floats about. The

floating state is called apparent weightlessness because it feels like having no weight

but the objects are still being pulled by the Earth’s gravity.
 Gravity and weight: If an object is weighed on Earth then weighed again on the Moon,

its weight will be seen to decrease.

 This is due to the mass of the Moon being much less than the mass of the Earth.

What is Speed?
 Speed is the quantity that tells you how fast something is moving.

 Unit: m/s (meters/second)

How to Calculate Speed?

 We need to measure two quantities:

o Distance traveled (m, in meters)

o Time taken (s, in seconds)

 Equation: Average speed= distance traveled/time taken

o We have to say average speed because the speed might be changing when they are

moving (speeding up or slowing down)

Calculating Speed

 Example 1: A runner completes a 200 m race in 25 s. What is her average speed?

o Known:

 Distance: 200 m

 Time took: 25 s

o Question: Average speed (s)?

o Answer: S= d/t

 S=200/25= 8 m/s.

 Example 2: A car travel is 100 m in 5 s. What is its average speed?

o Known:
 Distance: 100 m

 Time took: 5s

o Question: Average speed (s)?

o Answer: S=d/t

 S=100/5= 20 m/s.

 Example 3: A red car travels 400 m in 20 s. A blue car travels 660 m in 30 s. Which car

has the greater average speed?

o Known:

 Red car distance: 400 m

 Red car time: 20 s

 Blue car distance: 660 m

 Blue car time: 30 s

o Question: Average speed (s)?

o Answer: Average speed (s)?

 Average speed red car: Sred= d red/ t red= 400/20= 20 m/s

 Average speed blue car: Sblue= d blue/ t blue= 660/30= 22 m/s

 In conclusion, the blue car has greater average speed.

Drawing Distance/Time Graphs

 We can draw a distance/time graph to represent a journey.

 It can be used to find out distances traveled and times taken during a journey.

 Illustration: (if it is steady speed)

o x-axis: time (s)

o y-axis: distance (m)

 How to read the graph:

o How far has the runner traveled after 10s? Find the 10s in the time axis and draw a line

straight up from this point until it reaches the graph line, as shown. Then, draw

horizontally across to the distance axis. So the answer is 20 m.

 Illustration: (if the speed is not constant)

 How to read the graph?

o A= uphill
o B= rest

o C= uphill

o D= downhill

Section of Distance
Time (h)
journey (km)
Start 0 km 0 km
A 2 hours 30 km
B 1 hour 30 km
C 1/2 Hour 60 km
D 1 1/2 hours 0 km

What is Pressure?
 Pressure is defined as the force per unit area (P=F/A)

o The force of an object can be worked out by multiplying mass x gravity (9.81 m/s^2)

 The relationship:

o If the constant area, the force applied is directly proportional to the pressure.

o If the force is held constant, the pressure is inversely proportional to the area.

o If the pressure is held constant, then the force is directly proportional to the area.

 SI Unit= Pa (N/m^2). It can be also a bar, atm, kPa, etc.

 Illustration:

What is Density?
 A measure of how compact the mass in a substance or object is.

o Density could be described as the number of kilograms that 1 meter cubed of a

substance weighs.

 Formula: P (rho) = m/v

 SI Unit: kg/m^3 (common), g/cm^3, g/mL (depends on the substance)

Calculating The Density of Solid

 Example: A rectangular prism has a mass of 42.0 grams and has dimensions of 2 cm in

width, 6 cm long, and 0.5 cm in height. What is the density of this object?

o Answer:

1. Find the volume of rectangular prism:

l x w x h= 2 x 6 x 0.5= 6 cm^3

2. Put them in the formula:

P (rho)= m/v = 42 g/6 cm^3= 7 g/cm^3

o Conclusion: The density of the object is 7g/cm^3.

Calculating The Density of Liquid

 However, since water is a liquid, it needs to be in some sort of container. So in order to

weigh the water, they have to weigh the container, too.

 Example: A solution of water and salt contains 25 grams of salt in 250 mL of water.

What is the density of saltwater? (Use density of water = 1 g/mL)

o Answer:

1. Find the mass of water

Mass of water= density of water x volume of water

m=1 x 250

m=250 gram

2. Find the mass of saltwater

Mass total= mass of salt + mass of water

Mass total= 25 + 250

Mass total= 275 gram

3. Find the density

P (rho) = mass/volume \n P (rho) = 275 g/250 mL \n P (rho) = 1.1 g/mL

o Conclusion: The density of saltwater is 1.1 g/mL

Calculating The Density Of Gas

 The same goes with liquid, we need to calculate the mass total then the mass of the

gas.

 Example: For example, if the full balloon had a mass of 1 kg and the empty balloon had

a mass of 0.5 kg. The balloon displaced 1 L of water. What’s the density of the gas?

o Answer:

1. Find the mass of gas:

Mass of gas= mass of gas baloon-mass of baloon

Mass of gas= 1-0.5 kg

Mass of gass= 0.5 kg

2. Find the density

P (rho) = mass/volume

P= 0.5/1 L

P= 500 g/L

o Conclusion: The density of the gas is 500 g/L