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Chapter 4 Forces & Newton’s Laws

• Kinematics
– study of motion
• Mechanics
– forces that cause the motion

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 Force
• A force is exerted when two “systems” interact.
• Contact forces
– surfaces in contact
– rope or cable attached to an object
• Non-contact “action-at-a-distance” forces
– fields exert gravitational, electric, magnetic forces
• Forces cause, or try to cause, a change in the state
of rest or motion of an object
• Forces cause object to change velocity = accelerate
• Vector quantity

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 Net Force
 F “sigma F” = net force
– vector sum of forces acting on object
• Paycheck example
– do you receive a gross or net paycheck?
F = 100 + ( 40) = 60 N
40 N 100 N

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 Applied force vs Net force
• Net force is a vector sum of the actual
applied forces.

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 Balanced Forces
• Forces of equal magnitude acting on an object in
opposite directions
 F = 0 (does not mean no forces act)
• Object moves with constant velocity
– stays at rest or at constant speed in a
straight line

500 N drive force

500 N friction force
+5 m/s

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 Unbalanced Forces
• Opposing forces of different magnitudes
that do not ‘cancel each other out’
100 N lift force

30 N weight force

F = 70 N
• unbalanced forces cause acceleration in
the direction of the unbalanced net force 7
 Inertia
• Tendency of an object to
remain at rest or in
motion at a constant
velocity
• The resistance of an
object to a change in its
state of rest or motion
• MASS is a measure of
inertia

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 Newton’s 1st Law of Motion
• An object’s inertia will keep it at rest or in
motion at a constant speed in a straight
line (= constant velocity) unless acted on
by a net force.
• Law of Inertia
 F = 0

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 Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion
• When a net force acts on an object it accelerates
in the direction of the net force.
• Acceleration is directly proportional to the
magnitude of the net force applied to a constant
mass
• Acceleration is inversely proportional to the
mass of the object for a constant net force
• a = F
m
F = (m)(a)
left side of 2nd law right side is a mathematical
is vector sum = product of mass and
acceleration value
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• Which of Newton’s Laws is represented by
the graphs below?
1 2
F a

a m
Newton’s 2nd Law
slope of graph 1 = constant mass that force is applied to
constant force applied to increasing mass in graph 2
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definition of “inertial mass” – resistance to acceleration
 Forces come in pairs
• 3rd Law
• action-reaction force
pairs
– never act on the same
object

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 Free Body Diagram
• simple drawing of the object in a problem
• ALL forces acting on the object are shown with
arrows for force vectors.
• Tail of arrow is attached to object
• Arrow points in direction of force and is labeled
correctly with name or abbreviation
• Signs are important in problem solving
Normal force (+)

friction () Pull force (+)

Weight ()
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 Normal force and gravitational force

FG gravitational force
• force exerted on a mass when in a gravity
field created by another mass
• Weight in Newtons = (mass in kg)g = m9.8
Normal force not always
at Earth’s surface
equal to the weight of an
object

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Elevator Problems
I LOVE
PHYSICS!

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• Accelerating up or down will change the “apparent”
gravitational acceleration rate g

Al’s weight scale reading

I
Love (FN) is his apparent weight
Physics!
FN – Fg = maelev
FN=m(g + ae)
(ae = + if up and  if down)
Accelerating up = heavier
Accelerating down = lighter
Free fall down: apparent 17
Which one is the correct
FBD for an ice puck
sliding across frictionless
ice?

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 Problem solving with 2nd Law
• draw free body diagram
• solve x, y directions independently
 F=max Pull + ( friction) = max
 F=may Normal force+( weight)= may
• resolve vectors into components if necessary

FN
friction Pull

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2 body/pulley problems
• Apply 2nd law to direction of
motion – across table and down is
+ direction, opposite is – direction
• Tension in rope is constant at all
points
• Both masses accelerate at same
rate
• Must use total mass of system
• Isolate the hanging mass to solve
for tension

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 Atwood machine

A pulley merely changes the direction

of the tension force.
It is easiest to choose a “rotation”
direction as + or –
+ up on left, down on right
T T
m1

W2 W1
m2

T  W2  m2 a W1  T  m1 a
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 Tension forces
• Created by applying force to a rope, cable
• Equal at all points in rope

Is T1=T2=T3?

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 Multi-body Problems
• NO!
 F = ma
• All boxes accelerate at same rate
– applied force is directly proportional to mass that is
accelerating
F = 34 N to accelerate 17 kg at 2 m/s2
F2 = 12 x 2 = 24 N
F3 = 10 x 2 = 20 N
Example: Thrust force to lift a jet
much greater than contact force to 23
accelerate the pilot in the jet
tension forces between object always
less than external pull force 2 scale demo

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 Friction
• Friction forces ALWAYS oppose actual or
attempted motion between 2 surfaces
• Static friction: no motion fs  sFN
• Kinetic friction: sliding motion fk = kFN

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 Static, Kinetic Friction
• Static friction changes in
response to applied force
• Static friction maximum
– fs,max=sFN
– “on the verge of motion”
– “just started moving”
• Kinetic friction constant
• coefficient of friction  is
measure of roughness of
two surfaces in contact

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Include friction force in free body diagram

How does angle affect

friction force?

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 Inclines: Which way is up?
FN
y

Fg cos 

Fg

x
 Fg Fg sin 

Must resolve weight correctly before summing forces in x, y

normal force FN not equal to weight

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Apply 2nd law problem solving techniques
• Fx = max

Fy = may

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