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A Level Physics CIE 

3.1 Newton's Laws of Motion

CONTENTS
3.1.1 Mass & Weight
3.1.2 Force & Acceleration
3.1.3 Newton's Laws of Motion
3.1.4 Linear Momentum
3.1.5 Force & Momentum
3.1.6 Drag Force & Air Resistance
3.1.7 Terminal Velocity

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3.1.1 Mass & Weight YOUR NOTES


What is Mass?
Mass is the measure of the amount of matter in an object
Consequently, this is the property of an object that resists change in motion
The greater the mass of a body, the smaller the change produced by an applied force
The SI unit for mass is the kilogram (kg)

 Exam Tip
Since mass is measured in kilograms in Physics, if it is given in grams make sure
to convert to kg by dividing the value by 1000
It is a common misconception that mass and weight are the same, but they are
in fact very different
Weight is the force of gravity acting upon an object
Weight is a vector quantity
Mass is the amount of matter contained in the object
Mass is a scalar quantity

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Weight YOUR NOTES

Weight is the effect of a gravitational field on a mass 
Since it is a force on an object due to the pull of gravity, it is measured in newtons (N) and is
a vector quantity
The weight of a body is equal to the product of its mass (m) and the acceleration of free fall
(g)

g is the acceleration due to gravity or the gravitational field strength

On Earth, this is 9.81 m s−2 (or N kg−1)

Free Fall
An object in free fall is falling solely under the influence of gravity
On Earth, all free-falling objects accelerate towards Earth at a rate of 9.81 m s−2
In the absence of air resistance, all bodies near the Earth fall with the same acceleration
regardless of their mass

Mass v Weight
An object’s mass always remains the same, however, its weight will differ depending on the
strength of the gravitational field on different planets
For example, the gravitational field strength on the Moon is 1.63 N kg-1, meaning an object’s
weight will be about 6 times less than on Earth

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YOUR NOTES


On the moon, your mass will stay the same but your weight will be much lower
Although you only need to memorise g on Earth, its value on other planets in our solar
system is given in the diagram below. Notice how much this varies according to the size of
the planet

Gravitational field strength of the planets in our solar system

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YOUR NOTES
 Worked Example

The acceleration due to gravity on the moon is 1/6 of that on Earth. If the weight of a
space probe on the moon is 491 N, calculate its mass.

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3.1.2 Force & Acceleration YOUR NOTES


Force & Acceleration
As stated on the previous page, Newton's Second Law of Motion tells us that objects will
accelerate if there is a resultant force acting upon them
This acceleration will be in the same direction as this resultant force

Newton’s Second law equation

Resultant Force
Since force is a vector, every force on a body has a magnitude and direction
The resultant force is therefore the vector sum of all the forces acting on the body. The
direction is given by either the positive or negative direction as shown in the examples
below

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Resultant forces on a body YOUR NOTES

The resultant force could also be at an angle, in which case addition of vectors is used to 
find the magnitude and direction of the resultant force.
For more details on this, have a look at the page on “Scalars & Vectors”
Acceleration
Given the mass, Newton’s Second Law means you can find the acceleration of an object
Since acceleration is also a vector, it can be either positive or negative depending on the
direction of the resultant force
Negative acceleration is deceleration
An object may continue in the same direction however with a resultant force in the opposite
direction to its motion, it will slow down and eventually come to a stop

 Worked Example
A rocket produces an upward thrust of 15 MN and has a weight of 8 MN.
A. When in flight, the force due to air resistance is 500 kN.
What is the resultant force on the rocket?
B. The mass of the rocket is 0.8 × 105 kg.
Calculate the acceleration of the rocket and the direction its going in.

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

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Exam Tip YOUR NOTES

 The direction you consider positive is your choice, as long the signs of the numbers

(positive or negative) are consistent with this throughout the questionIt is a general
rule to consider the direction of motion the object is travelling in as positive.
Therefore all vectors in the direction of motion will be positive and opposing vectors
such as drag forces, are negative.

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3.1.3 Newton's Laws of Motion YOUR NOTES


Newton's Three Laws of Motion
Newton’s First Law: A body will remain at rest or move with constant velocity unless acted
on by a resultant force

 Worked Example
If there are no external forces acting on the car, other than friction, and it is moving
at a constant velocity, what is the value of the frictional force F?

Newton’s Second Law: A resultant force acting on a body will cause a change in
momentum in the direction of the force. The rate of change in momentum is proportional to
the magnitude of the force
This can also be written as F = ma

 Worked Example
A girl is riding her skateboard down the road and increases her speed from 1 m s-1 to
4 m s-1 in 2.5 s.If the force driving her forward is 72 N, calculate the combined mass
of the girl and the skateboard.

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YOUR NOTES


Newton’s Third Law: If body A exerts a force on body B, then body B will exert a force on
body A of equal magnitude but in the opposite direction
Newton’s Third Law force pairs must act on different objects
Newton’s Third Law force pairs must also be of the same type e.g. gravitational or
frictional

 Worked Example
Using Newton's third law describe why when a balloon is untied, it travels in the
opposite direction.

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

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Exam Tip YOUR NOTES

 You may have heard Newton’s Third Law as: ‘For every action is an equal and

opposite reaction’. However, try and avoid using this definition since it is unclear on
what the forces are acting on and can be misleading.

Newton’s Third Law force pairs are only those that act on different objects

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3.1.4 Linear Momentum YOUR NOTES


Linear Momentum
Linear momentum (p) is defined as the product of mass and velocity

Momentum is the product of mass and velocity

Momentum is a vector quantity - it has both a magnitude and a direction
This means it can have a negative or positive value
If an object travelling to the right has positive momentum, an object travelling to the
left (in the opposite direction) has a negative momentum
The SI unit for momentum is kg m s−1

When the ball is travelling in the opposite direction, its velocity is negative. Since
momentum = mass × velocity, its momentum is also negative

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 Worked Example

Which object has the most momentum?

Both the tennis ball and the brick have the same momentum
Even though the brick is much heavier than the ball, the ball is travelling much faster than the
brick
This means that on impact, they would both exert a similar force (depending on the time it
takes for each to come to rest)

 Exam Tip
Since momentum is in kg m s−1:
If the mass is given in grams, make sure to convert to kg by dividing the value by
1000.
If the velocity is given in km s−1, make sure to convert to m s−1 by multiplying
the value by 1000
The direction you consider positive is your choice, as long the signs of the
numbers (positive or negative) are consistent with this throughout the question

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3.1.5 Force & Momentum YOUR NOTES


Force & Momentum
Force is defined as the rate of change of momentum on a body

Force is equal to the rate of change in momentum

The change in momentum is defined as the final momentum minus the initial momentum:
pfinal − pinitial
Force and momentum are vectors so they can be either positive or negative values

 Worked Example
A car of mass 1500 kg hits a wall at an initial velocity of 15 m s-1.
It then rebounds off the wall at 5 m s-1 and comes to rest after 3.0 s.
Calculate the average force experienced by the car.

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

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Direction of Forces YOUR NOTES

The force that is equal to the rate of change of momentum is still the resultant force 
A force on an object will be negative if it is directed in the opposite motion to its initial
velocity. This means that the force is produced by the object it has collided with

Fcar = –Fwall

The diagram shows a car colliding with a wall

It is the wall that produces a force of -300N on the car
Due to Newton’s Third Law (see “Newton’s Laws of Motion”), the car also produces a force
of 300N back onto the wall
Maths tip
‘Rate of change’ describes how one variable changes with respect to another. In maths,
how fast something changes with time is represented as dividing by Δt (e.g. acceleration is
the rate of change in velocity)
More specifically, Δt is used for finite and quantifiable changes such as the difference in
time between two events

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 Worked Example

A tennis ball hits a racket with a change in momentum of 0.5 kg m s-1.For the
different contact times, which tennis racket experiences more force from the tennis
ball?

 Exam Tip
In an exam question, carefully consider what produces the force(s) acting. Look out
for words like ‘from’ and ‘acting on’ to determine this and don’t be afraid to draw a
force diagram to figure out what is going on.

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3.1.6 Drag Force & Air Resistance YOUR NOTES


Drag Forces
Drag forces are forces acting the opposite direction to an object moving through a fluid
(either gas or liquid)
Examples of drag forces are friction and air resistance
A key component of drag forces is it increases with the speed of the object. This is shown in
the diagram below:

Frictional forces on a car increase with its speed

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 Worked Example

A car of mass 800 kg has a horizontal driving force of 3 kN acting on it.Its
acceleration is 2.0 m s-2.What is the frictional force acting on the car?

 Exam Tip
Remember to consider drag forces in your calculation for the resultant force. More
details of this are in the notes “Force and acceleration”.

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Air Resistance YOUR NOTES

Air resistance is an example of a drag force which objects experience when moving through 
the air
At a walking pace, a person rarely experiences the effects of air resistance
However, a person swimming at the same pace uses up much more energy - this is
because air is 800 times less dense than water
Air resistance depends on the shape of the body (object) and the speed it’s travelling
Since drag force increases with speed, air resistance becomes important when objects
move faster

A racing cyclist adopts a more streamline posture to reduce the effects of air resistance.
The cycle, clothing and helmet are designed to allow them to go as fast as possible

 Exam Tip
If a question considers air resistance to be ‘negligible’ this means in that question,
air resistance is taken to be so small it will not make a difference to the motion of the
body. You can take this to mean there are no drag forces acting on the body.

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3.1.7 Terminal Velocity YOUR NOTES


Terminal Velocity
For a body in free fall, the only force acting is its weight and its acceleration g is only due to
gravity.
The drag force increases as the body accelerates
This increase in velocity means the drag force also increases
Due to Newton’s Second Law, this means the resultant force and therefore acceleration
decreases (recall F = ma)
When the drag force is equal to the gravitational pull on the body, the body will no longer
accelerate and will fall at a constant velocity
This the maximum velocity that the object can have and is called the terminal velocity

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YOUR NOTES


A skydiver in freefall reaching terminal velocity

The graph shows how the velocity of the skydiver varies with time
Since the acceleration is equal to the gradient of a velocity-time graph, the acceleration
decreases and eventually becomes zero when terminal velocity is reached

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 Worked Example

Skydivers jump out of a plane at intervals of a few seconds.
Skydivers A and B want to join up as they fall.

If A is heavier than B, who should jump first?

Skydiver B should jump first since he will have a lower terminal velocity
This is because skydiver A has a greater mass, and hence, weight
Terminal velocity is reached when weight is equal to air resistance
Therefore, a higher terminal velocity means that skydiver A will have a greater speed, and
will reach terminal velocity faster than skydiver B

 Exam Tip
Exam questions about terminal velocity tend to involve the motion of skydivers
as they fall
A common misconception is that skydivers move upwards when their
parachutes are deployed - however, this is not the case, they are in fact
decelerating to a lower terminal velocity
What do you think this would look like on the graph above?

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