NEWTON’S LAWS OF

MOTION

Measure and calculate the magnitude of frictional

forces and Newton’s three Laws of Motion.

Prepared by: Engr. Mark Paul A. Alamag

 FORCE AND MASS

• Force – push or
pull; required to
change an
object’s motion.
• Vector – show
magnitude and
direction
 FOUR FORCES KNOWN IN THE
UNIVERSE
• Electromagnetic- caused from electric and magnetic
interactions

• Strong Nuclear- Responsible for holding nucleus

together in the atom; strongest force; acts over the
shortest distance

• Gravitation- weakest force; acts over the longest

distance

• Weak Nuclear- Responsible for radioactivity in atoms

 TYPES OF FORCES

• There are two main types of forces

• Contact
• Field
 CONTACT FORCES

• Contact Force
• Exists when an object from the external
world touches a system and exerts a force
on it
• Think About a Book on a Table
• If you push it, you are exerting a contact
force
• If you put it down, no longer interacting… so
no more force from you
• But table is touching it- table is now exerting
a force
 FIELD FORCES
• An object can move without something directly
touching it
• What if you dropped the book?
• It falls due to gravity
• Gravitational Force is a field force.
• They affect movement without being in physical
contact
• Can you think of other field forces?
• Magnetic fields
• Electric Forces
• Nuclear Forces
 TWO TYPES OF FORCES

• Example of Contact • Examples of Field

Forces Forces
• Friction • Gravitational
• Tension • Electric
• Magnetic
• Applied
• Spring
 FORCE AND MASS

• Mass – measurement of how difficult it is to change the

objects velocity
• Inertia – resistance to change in velocity

• So mass is a measurement of an object’s inertia

NEWTON’S LAWS
 BACKGROUND
Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727)
an English scientist and
mathematician famous for
his discovery of the law of
gravity also discovered the
three laws of motion.

Today these laws are known

as Newton’s Laws of Motion
and describe the motion of
all objects on the scale we
experience in our everyday
lives.
 NEWTON’S LAWS OF
MOTION

1. An object in motion tends to stay in motion and an

object at rest tends to stay at rest unless acted upon
by an unbalanced force.
2. Force equals mass times acceleration
(F = ma).
3. For every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction.
 NEWTON’S FIRST LAW

An object at rest tends to stay at rest and

an object in motion tends to stay in motion
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
 WHAT DOES THIS
MEAN?
Basically, an object will “keep doing what it was
doing” unless acted on by an unbalanced
force.

If the object was sitting still, it will remain

stationary. If it was moving at a constant
velocity, it will keep moving.

It takes force to change the motion of an object.

 WHAT IS MEANT BY
UNBALANCED FORCE?

If the forces on an object are equal and opposite, they are said
to be balanced, and the object experiences no change in
motion. If they are not equal and opposite, then the forces are
unbalanced and the motion of the object changes.
 SOME EXAMPLES
FROM REAL LIFE
A soccer ball is sitting at rest. It
takes an unbalanced force of a kick
to change its motion.

Two teams are playing tug of war. They are both

exerting equal force on the rope in opposite
directions. This balanced force results in no change
of motion.
 NEWTON’S FIRST LAW IS ALSO
CALLED THE LAW OF INERTIA

Inertia: the tendency of an object to resist changes in its

state of motion

The First Law states that all objects have inertia. The
more mass an object has, the more inertia it has (and
the harder it is to change its motion).
 MORE EXAMPLES
FROM REAL LIFE
A powerful locomotive begins to pull a
long line of boxcars that were sitting at
rest. Since the boxcars are so massive,
they have a great deal of inertia and it
takes a large force to change their
motion. Once they are moving, it takes
a large force to stop them.

On your way to school, a bug

flies into your windshield. Since
the bug is so small, it has very
little inertia and exerts a very
small force on your car (so small
that you don’t even feel it).
 IF OBJECTS IN MOTION TEND TO STAY IN
MOTION, WHY DON’T MOVING OBJECTS
KEEP MOVING FOREVER?
Things don’t keep moving forever because
there’s almost always an unbalanced force
acting upon it.

A book sliding across a table slows

down and stops because of the force
of friction.

If you throw a ball upwards it will

eventually slow down and fall
because of the force of gravity.
In outer space, away from gravity and any
sources of friction, a rocket ship launched
with a certain speed and direction would
keep going in that same direction and at that
same speed forever.
 QUESTION

•What is the relationship

between mass and inertia?
•Mass is a measure of how
much inertia something has.
 QUESTION

•Is inertia a force?

•No, inertia is a property of

matter. Something has inertia.
Inertia does not act on
something.
 QUESTION
• A force of gravity between the sun
and its planets holds the planets in
orbit around the sun. If that force of
gravity suddenly disappeared, in
what kind of path would the planets
move?
• Each planet would move in a straight
line at constant speed.
 QUESTION

• The Earth moves about 30 km/s

relative to the sun. But when you
jump upward in front of a wall,
the wall doesn’t slam into you at
30 km/s. Why?
• both you and the wall are moving at
the same speed, before, during, and
after your jump.
 NEWTON’S SECOND
LAW

Force equals mass times acceleration.

F = ma

Acceleration: a measurement of how quickly an

object is changing speed.
 ACCELERATION
• An unbalanced force causes something to accelerate.
• A force can cause motion only if it is met with an
unbalanced force.
• Forces can be balanced or unbalanced.
• Depends on the net force acting on the object
• Net force (Fnet): The sum total and direction of all forces
acting on the object.

• Net forces: Always cause acceleration.

BALANCED VERSUS
UNBALANCED

Balanced forces cause no

acceleration.
 BALANCED VERSUS
UNBALANCED

Unbalanced forces
cause acceleration.
 WHAT DOES F = MA MEAN?
Force is directly proportional to mass and acceleration.
Imagine a ball of a certain mass moving at a certain
acceleration. This ball has a certain force.

Now imagine we make the ball twice as big (double the

mass) but keep the acceleration constant. F = ma says
that this new ball has twice the force of the old ball.

Now imagine the original ball moving at twice the

original acceleration. F = ma says that the ball will
again have twice the force of the ball at the original
acceleration.
 IN OTHER WORDS…

Small Force = Small Acceleration

F
a
 IN OTHER WORDS…
Large Force = Large Acceleration

F
a
So….if you push twice as hard, it accelerates twice as much.
 BUT THERE IS A TWIST….
• Acceleration is INVERSELY related to the mass of the
object.
 IN OTHER WORDS…..USING THE
SAME AMOUNT OF FORCE….

F Small acceleration

Large Mass a

Large acceleration

F a
Small Mass
 MORE ABOUT F = MA
If you double the mass, you double the force. If you
double the acceleration, you double the force.

What if you double the mass and the acceleration?

(2m)(2a) = 4F

Doubling the mass and the acceleration quadruples

the force.
 WHAT DOES F = MA SAY?
F = ma basically means that the force of an
object comes from its mass and its
acceleration.

Force is measured in
Newtons (N) = mass (kg) x acceleration (m/s2)
Or
kg m/s2
 HIGH MASS

Something very massive (high mass)

that’s changing speed very slowly (low
acceleration), like a glacier, can still
have great force.
 LOW MASS
Something very small (low mass) that’s
changing speed very quickly (high
acceleration), like a bullet, can still
have a great force. Something very
small changing speed very slowly will
have a very weak force.
 IN SUMMARY
• The acceleration of an object is directly
proportional to the net force & inversely
proportional to its mass.

• F = ma
• Force = Mass x Acceleration
 HOW DOES WEIGHT TIE
IN?
• Mass is the quantity of matter in an object. More
specifically, mass is a measure of the inertia, or
“laziness,” that an object exhibits in response to
any effort made to start it, stop it, or otherwise
change its state of motion.
• Weight is the force of gravity on an object.
• If force is equal to mass x acceleration then,
Weight is equal to mass x acceleration due to
gravity
 WEIGHT
• So on earth, your weight is
• Your Mass x 9.8 m/s/s
• When you are drawing FBDs and the force of
gravity factors in (almost always), you can
figure out the value of that force
• For example, if I say a 2kg book is resting on a
table…
• The force due to gravity (weight) is 2 x 9.8
• The normal force would be the same but
opposite direction
 SOLVING NEWTON
SECOND LAW PROBLEMS
• 1.Draw a free body diagram
• 2.Break vectors into components if needed
• 3.Find the NET force by adding and subtracting
forces that are on the same axis as the
acceleration.
• 4.Set net force equal to “ma” this is called
writing an EQUATION OF MOTION.
• NOTE: To avoid negative numbers, always
subtract the smaller forces from the larger one.
Be sure to remember which direction is larger.
 EXAMPLE
• A 50 N applied force drags an 8.16 kg log to the right
across a horizontal surface. What is the acceleration of
the log if the force of friction is 40.0 N?
 TOUGHER EXAMPLE
• An elevator with a mass of 2000 kg rises with an
acceleration of 1.0 m/s/s. What is the tension in the
supporting cable?
CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Net Forces and Newton’s Second Law
 QUESTION

• Suppose that the acceleration of an

object is zero. Does this mean that
there are no forces acting on it?
• No, it means the forces acting on it
are balanced and the net force is
zero.
• Think about gravity and normal force
acting on stationary objects.
 QUESTION
• When a basketball player dribbles a
ball, it falls to the floor and bounces
up. Is a force required to make it
bounce? Why? If a force is needed,
what is the agent.
• Yes, when it bounced it changed
direction. A change in direction =
acceleration. Acceleration requires a
force. The agent was the floor.
PRACTICE PROBLEM #1
PRACTICE PROBLEM #2

• If a force of 15.0 N directed east acts on a

stationary 5.00 kg mass, what are its acceleration,
displacement, and velocity after 10s?
The Atwood machine
ATWOOD'S MACHINE IS A DEVICE WHERE TWO MASSES, M AND M, ARE
CONNECTED BY A STRING PASSING OVER A PULLEY. ASSUME THAT M2 > M1. THE
STRING IS WEIGHTLESS AND FREE FROM SNAPPED. THE PULLEY IS ALSO WEIGHTLESS
AND FRICTIONLESS.

Designed
by:
George
Atwood
PRACTICE PROBLEM #3
ASSIGNMENT #1

Calculate the acceleration of an Atwood machine if one

of the two weights is four times as heavy as the other.
What is the tension in the string if the lighter body has a
mass of 3.0 kg? Find also the time for this mass to cover a
distance of 0.45 m.
ASSIGNMENT #2

• A waitress shoves a ketchup bottle with mass 0.45

kg to her right along a smooth, level lunch counter.
The bottle leaves her hand moving at 2.8 m/s then
slows down as it slides because of a constant
horizontal friction force exerted on it by the
countertop. It slides for 1.0 m before coming to
rest. What are the magnitude and direction of the
friction force acting on the bottle?
ASSIGNMENT #3

• A 68.5-kg skater moving initially at 2.40 m/s on

rough horizontal ice comes to rest uniformly in 3.52
s due to friction from the ice. What force does
friction exert on the skater?
HARD PROBLEM
Things that are in balance with one
another illustrate equilibrium.
Things in mechanical equilibrium are
stable, without changes of motion.
The rocks are in mechanical equilibrium.
An unbalanced external force would be
needed to change their resting state.
Mechanical Equilibrium

Mechanical equilibrium is a state wherein no physical

changes occur.
Whenever the net force on an object is zero, the object
is in mechanical equilibrium—this is known as the
equilibrium rule.
Mechanical Equilibrium

The  symbol stands for “the sum of.”

F stands for “forces.”
For a suspended object at rest, the forces acting
upward on the object must be balanced by other
forces acting downward.

The vector sum equals zero.

Mechanical Equilibrium
The sum of the upward vectors equals the sum of the
downward vectors. F = 0, and the scaffold is in equilibrium.
Mechanical Equilibrium
The sum of the upward vectors equals the sum of the
downward vectors. F = 0, and the scaffold is in equilibrium.
Mechanical Equilibrium
The sum of the upward vectors equals the sum of the
downward vectors. F = 0, and the scaffold is in equilibrium.
 EQUILIBRIUM FOR
STATIONARY OBJECTS
• To find the force necessary to put
something in equilibrium, first find
the resultant.
• The force necessary to put
something in equilibrium is called
the equilibrant force.
• The equilibrant force is equal but
opposite to the resultant.
Equilibrium for Moving Objects
The state of rest is only one form of equilibrium.
An object moving at constant speed in a straight-line path is
also in a state of equilibrium. Once in motion, if there is no net
force to change the state of motion, it is in equilibrium.
Equilibrium for Moving Objects
An object under the influence of only one force cannot
be in equilibrium.
Only when there is no force at all, or when two or more
forces combine to zero, can an object be in equilibrium.
Equilibrium for Moving Objects
When the push on the
desk is the same as the
force of friction between
the desk and the floor,
the net force is zero
and the desk slides at
an unchanging speed.
Equilibrium for Moving Objects
If the desk moves steadily at constant speed, without
change in its motion, it is in equilibrium.
Friction is a contact force between objects that slide
or tend to slide against each other.
In this case, F = 0 means that the force of friction is
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to
the pushing force.
 NEWTON’S THIRD LAW

For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

 WHAT DOES THIS MEAN?

For every force acting on an object, there is an equal

force acting in the opposite direction. Right now,
gravity is pulling you down in your seat, but
Newton’s Third Law says your seat is pushing up
against you with equal force. This is why you are
not moving. There is a balanced force acting on
you– gravity pulling down, your seat pushing up.
 THINK ABOUT IT . . .
What happens if you are standing on a
skateboard or a slippery floor and push against
a wall? You slide in the opposite direction
(away from the wall), because you pushed on
the wall but the wall pushed back on you with
equal and opposite force.

Why does it hurt so much when you stub

your toe? When your toe exerts a force on a
rock, the rock exerts an equal force back on
your toe. The harder you hit your toe against
it, the more force the rock exerts back on your
toe (and the more your toe hurts).
Forces and Interactions
When you push on the wall, the wall pushes on you.
Newton’s Third Law
Newton’s third law describes the relationship
between two forces in an interaction.
• One force is called the action force.
• The other force is called the reaction force.
• Neither force exists without the other.
• They are equal in strength and opposite in
direction.
• They occur at the same time
(simultaneously).
Newton’s Third Law
When the girl jumps to shore, the boat moves backward.
Identifying Action and Reaction Pairs
When action is A exerts force on B, the reaction is simply B exerts force on A.
Action and Reaction on Different Masses
Earth is pulled up
by the boulder with
just as much force
as the boulder is
pulled down by
Earth.
IDENTIFY AT LEAST FIVE PAIRS OF
ACTION-REACTION FORCE PAIRS IN
THE FOLLOWING DIAGRAM.
 QUESTION

1. A force interaction requires at least

a(n)
a. single force.
b. pair of forces.
c. action force.
d. reaction force.
 QUESTION

3. The force that directly propels a

motor scooter along a highway is
that provided by the
a. engine.
b. fuel.
c. tires.
d. road.
 QUESTION
• We know that Earth pulls on the moon.
Does the moon also pull on Earth? If so,
which pull is stronger?
• Asking which pull is stronger is like asking
which distance is greater—between New
York and San Francisco, or between San
Francisco and New York. The distances
either way are the same. It is the same with
force pairs. Both Earth and moon pull on
each other with equal and opposite forces.
 QUESTION
• Suppose a friend who hears about Newton’s
third law says that you can’t move a football
by kicking it because the reaction force by the
kicked ball would be equal and opposite to
your kicking force. The net force would be
zero, so no matter how hard you kick, the ball
won’t move! What do you say to your friend?
• If you kick a football, it will accelerate. No
other force has been applied to the ball. Tell
your friend that you can’t cancel a force on
the ball with a force on your foot.
 REVIEW
Newton’s First Law:
Objects in motion tend to stay in motion
and objects at rest tend to stay at rest
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Newton’s Second Law:

Force equals mass times acceleration

(F = ma).

Newton’s Third Law:

For every action there is an equal and

opposite reaction.