Chapter 2

Newton’s Laws of
Motion
 Table of Contents
 Forces and Free-body Diagram
 Newton’s Laws of Motion
－ Newton’s First Law: The law of inertia
－ Newton’s Second Law
－ Newton’s Third Law: Action and reaction
 Applications of Newton’s Laws
－ Objects in Equilibrium
－ Objects in Motion
 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. He
published them in his book Philosophiae
Naturalis Principia Mathematica
(Mathematic principles of natural
philosophy) in 1687. 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.
 What are Newton’s Laws
Tell Us?
 Why objects keep
moving or
stationary?
 What’s the
relationship between
motion of object and
the forces exerted on
it ?
Limitations of Newton’s
Laws
 Newton’s Laws are valid when deal with
slowly moving objects encountered in
our daily life.
 But when we use Newton’s laws to deal
with tiny objects(atoms or smaller, about
10-10m) or objects moving at speed near
to that of light(3×108m/s2), the results
will be incorrect.
 When deal with objects as small as atom
we should use theories of Quantum
Mechanics.
 When deal with high-speed objects we
should use theories of Relativity.
 §2.1 Concept of Force
 Force is a vector quantity.
 Magnitude , direction and action point are three
elements of a force.
 We often denote force with an arrowed line.
— the length of the line represents the magnitude.
— the arrow represents the direction.
— the tail of the arrowed line represents the action
point.
F
 Contact forces: resulting from directly physical
contact between two objects.
 Field forces: between two discontact objects, such
as gravitational force, electric force, magnetic force.

Object 1 Field Object 2

 SI unit of force is Newton: defined as the force that,

when acting on an object that has a mass of 1kg,
and produces an acceleration of 1m/s2.

2
1N 1kg m / s
 Some examples of Force
 Tension force (such as in a stretched rope or
string), arises because each small element of
the string pulls on the element next to it.


T'

T
m

If the mass of the rope is negligible, the values of

tension force will be the same in any position of the
rope.
 Normal force : an elastic force arising from the
sag of a solid surface. Just like tension force, the
normal force is also a contact force.

4 Perpendicular
N to the surface
  Gravitational force :the mutual force of attraction
between any two objects in the universe.
Magnitude of gravitational force

m1m2
Fg G 2
r
Direction of gravitational force m2

Fg

m1 Fg

Where G is the universal gravitational constant, and G=6.67×10-

11
N•m2/kg2
 When an object moves only under the influence of its gravity, its
motion is the free fall. The acceleration of gravity can be written
as

mE m mE
P mg G 2  g G 2
r r
 mE is the mass of the earth and r is the distance from the object
to the center of Earth.
 The gravitational acceleration near the surface of Earth is taken
as 9.80m/s2 in calculation.
 Friction Force
■ Friction force. When an object is moving either on a
surface or through a viscous medium, such as air or
water, there is resistance to the motion because the
object interacts with its surroundings. We call such
resistance as friction force.
The nature of friction force is caused by the roughness of the
contact surfaces. When the surface is rough, contact of objects
is only made at a few points on the surfaces and then results in
friction.

static friction
Friction
kinetic friction
  1) Static friction
The frictional forces acting between surfaces at rest
with respect to each other.

f s Max  s N

N — normal force,
µs — coefficient of static friction,
fsMax— maximum force of static
friction.

When F reaches some magnitude, the box is about to move on

the surface. fs reaches the maximum ( maximum static frictional
force)
  2) Kinetic friction

f k  k N v
s  k
Usually, for a given pair of surfaces . The
fk
 k of  s and f sMax
actual value
N — normal force,

depend on the nature

µk — coefficient of kinetic friction

of
both the surfaces in contact.

Direction of Kinetic friction:

opposite to the velocity.
 Some representative values of µs and µk

Surface s k
Rubber on dry 1.0 0.8
concrete
Glass on glass 0.9 ~ 1.0 0.4

Steel on steel 0.6 0.6

Wood on wood 0.25 ~ 0.5 0.2

Waxed wood 0.04 0.004

ski on dry
snow
§2.2 Newton’s Laws of Motion
2.2.1 Newton’s First Law
 What can cause the motion of an object?
Take the apple’s freely falling motion as an example.
 What will be the states of the object if there is
no any interactions between it and its
environment?
At rest or 1D uniform motion
An object will remain at rest or in uniform motion unless
acted upon by a net external unbalanced force.
－ Newton’s First Law
 What does this mean?
 By the net force we mean the vector sum of all
external forces exerted on the object.
 The external force is any force that results from the

interaction between the object and its enviroment.

 If the net forces exerted on the object is

zero(balanced), then there will be no external force

on the object or the vector sum of all the external
forces is zero.
Consider an object on which the net force exerted
 is
Ifzero.
the object is at rest, it will remain at rest.
 If the object is moving with a constant velocity, it
will continue to do so, no external force is needed
to keep it moving.
 Newton’s First Law is
also called the Law of
Inertia
 Inertia: the tendency of an object to keep its
original motion state.
 The First Law states that all objects have inertia.
 Mass is a measure of the resistance of an object
to changes in its motion due to force. 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
make them to move. Once they are
moving, it also 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 moving objects can not
keep moving forever?
Objects 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.
But 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.
2.2.2 Newton’s Second Law
 Newton’s first law tell us that force causes
  
the v Fa
change in the motion states (~ ).
 For a fixed body, a larger force applied to
the
body will generate a larger acceleration for
the
 The force is determined through the
body.
measure of
acceleration the body gets under the force.
The acceleration of an object is directly
proportional to and in the same direction as the net
force acting on it, and inversely proportional to its
mass.
－ Newton’s Second
Law
Mathematical description of Newton’s second law


a
F  
  F ma
m

4
Where  F represents the vector sum of all the external

forces exerted on thea object, is the acceleration of the
object, m is its mass.
 Component Equations of Newton’s
Second Law

 Fx max

 Fy ma y

 F z maz

Where Fx , Fy ,Fz , ax , ay , az are projection of F and a in

corresponding directions in coordinate system.
 True or False?
 (1)It is possible to have motion in the absence of a (√)
force. (×)
 (2)If an condition
In the object is that
not no
moving,
exteralno external
force or the force
vectoracts
sumon
it.of all external is zero, then the object will be not
moving.
(√)
(√)
 (3)If a single force acts on an object, the object
accelerates. (×)
 (4)If an object experiences an acceleration, forces act
In the
on it. condition that no exteral force or the vector sum of all
external is zero, then the object will experience no
 (5)If an object experiences no acceleration, no
acceleration.
external force
(×)
acts on it.
Take the example of projectile motion
 2.2.3 Newton’s Third Law
 A single isolated force can not exist.
 Forces in nature always exist in pairs.
4
N

4
N'
4
If two objects interact, the force F 12 exerted by object 1 on
object 2 is equal in magnitude but opposite in direction to
4
the forceF 21 exerted by object 2 on object 1.
－ Newton’s Third Law
 The forceF 12 exerted by
object 1 on object 2 is
sometimes called the action F 21
1

force,
F 21 while the force

is called reaction force.

 In reality, either force can be F 12 F 12  F 21
labeled the action or reaction
force.
2

 The action force is equal in

magnitude to the reaction
force and opposite in
direction.
 In all case, the action and
reaction force act on
different objects.
 Summary to Newton’s Laws
Newton’s first law: An object will remain at rest or in
uniform motion unless acted upon by a net external
unbalanced force.

Newton’s Second Law :The acceleration of an object is

directly proportional to and in the same direction as the
net force acting on it, and inversely proportional to its
mass.
 Fx max

 F ma   Fy may

 Fz maz
The third law: If two objects interact, the force F 12
exerted by object 1 on object 2 is equal in
magnitude but opposite in directionFto 21 the force

exerted by object 2 on object 1.

§2.3 Applications of Newton’s
Laws
♦ Objects in equilibrium
Objects that are either at rest or moving with a constant
velocity are said to be in equilibrium.
Because a=0, the condition of equilibrium can be
expressed as

 Fx 0

 F 0   Fy 0

 Fz 0
blem-solving Strategy_objects in equilibrium

 Make a sketch of the situation described in the

problem statement.
 Isolate the object considered and draw a free-
body diagram, the label all the forces acting on
the objects.
 Choose a suitable coordinate system, then resolve
 Fx x0,,y Fand
all forces to get their components.
y 0,z Fz 0
 Use the equations
 Solve the equations simultaneously to obtain the
unknown quantities.
Example 1 A traffic light weighing
100N hangs from a vertical cable tied
to two other cables that are fastened
to a support. The upper cable make
angles of 37.0O and 53.0o with the
horizontal. Find the tension in each of
the three cables.
Solution: Draw two free-body
diagrams . The first one for the traffic
light, and the second one for the knot
that holds the three cable together.

For the traffic light: y

Fg 100 N

 F T 3  Fg 0  T3 Fg 100 N
 For the knot, there are three forces act on it

Force x-component y-component

y

T1

T2
 x
T3
Free
body
F
x 0 diagram
F
y 0

 Fx T1x  T2 x  T3 x T2 cos 53.0o  T1 cos 37.0o 0

 
 y
o o
F T1y  T2y  T3y T1 sin 37.0  T2 sin 53.0  100 N 0

T1 60.1N
 
T2 79.9 N
 Example 2 A child hold a sled
at rest on a frictionless, snow-
covered hill. If the sled weighs
77.0N.Find the force T exerted
by the rope on the sled and
force N exerted by the hill on
the sled.
Solution:Draw a free-body
diagram, label all forces exerted
on the sled, build up a coordinate
system.
There are Three forces exerted on the sled y x
N T
Forces x-component y-component

T

N

Fg Fg=mg
 Applying component equations of Newton’s second
law

 Fx T  mg sin 30.0o 0


 y
o
F  N  mg cos 30.0 0
T mg sin 30.0o 38.5 N
  o
 N mg cos 30.0 66.7 N

When is the magnitude of the normal force equal to the weight of the

This will happen when the angle of the incline decrease to zero.
 ♦ Accelerating objects

If forces act on an object are not balanced ， then the

object will be accelerated.

 Fx max

 F ma   Fy may

 Fz maz

If we have known the magnitude and direction of all the

external forces that exerted on the object, then we can
determine the acceleration , velocity, or displacement of
the object. Meanwhile if we know the acceleration of the
object, we also can get the net force acts on it.
Example 3 A person weighs a fish of mass m=1kg on a spring
scale attached to the ceiling of an elevator. If the elevator
accelerates with an acceleration of 2.00m/s2 upward, what’s the
read of the spring scale ? Is it different from the true weight of
the fish?
Solution: Since the fish is in the
elevator, it will have the same
acceleration as the elevator. y

F y T  mg ma y
 T m( g  a y ) 11.8 N

According to Newton’s third law, the

read of the spring scale will equal to
the tension force. So
T’=T=11.8N
If the elevator accelerate downward with the same value of
acceleration, what will the read be?

F y T  mg  ma y
 T m( g  a y ) 7.8 N
 T ' T 7.8 N

When the acceleration equals to the

gravitational acceleration (g), then
the fish will weigh zero in the
elevator.
Example 4 Two objects are connected by a light string that
passes over a frictionless pullery . The coefficient of kinetic
friction between the cube and the surface is 0.300. Find the
acceleration of the two objects and the tension in the string.
Solution:Draw two free-body diagrams
All the forces exert on the block are

 Fy n  m1 g 0 n m1 g
    T  m1 g  k m1a
 Fx T  f k m1a  f k n k m1 g  k
All the forces exert on the ball are

According to Newton’s law we have T=T’

F y m2 g  T ' m2 g  T m2 a

T  m1 g k m1a

m2 g   k m1 g
a 5.17m / s 2
m1  m2

T m1a  m1 g 32.4 N
 Summary
 Forces and Free-body Diagram
 Newton’s Laws of Motion
－ Newton’s First Law: The law of inertia
－ Newton’s Second Law
－ Newton’s Third Law: Action and reaction
 Applications of Newton’s Laws
－ Objects in Equilibrium
－ Objects in Motion