Instructor: Manish Narayan

Physics
 First Law:
 An object at rest remains at rest and an object in
constant motion remains in constant motion unless
acted upon by a net external Force.

 Second Law:
 F = ma (Force equals mass times acceleration)
 Or acceleration is directly proportional to the Force but
inversely proportional to the mass.

 Third Law:
 For every action force there is an equal and opposite
reaction force.
 F = ma
 Force = mass x acceleration
 = kg x m/s2 or 1 N
 1 N = 1 Newton
 One Newton of force is required to cause a 1 kg
object to accelerate at 1 m/s2.
 1 kN = 1000 N
 If the net force on an object is 0 (balanced) , then the
object is said to be in equilibrium (meaning at rest
or at a constant velocity)
 If the net force on an object is not zero, then the
object must be accelerating:

100 N
-50 N

 If I apply a force to the right of 100 N and another

force in the opposite direction of 50 N then the net
force on the box is: -50 + 100 = 50 N (The box will
accelerate to the right!)
 The Earth pulls us down with a gravitational
force and we call this our Weight (W)
 Using Newton’s second law and the fact that
Earth’s gravitational acceleration is 9.8 m/s2:
 W=mg
 Weight is also measured in Newtons (N) as it is
a Force.
 My weight is W= (67 kg)(9.8 m/s2) = 657 N on
Earth.
 When an object is in contact with a surface (i.e., table or
wall) then there is a perpendicular force the surface exerts
on the object which is known as “normal” force:

 Weight is the force acting down due to gravity.

 The contact or “normal” force is the table pusing up on the
green box (N)
 If you apply a force to the left (F) then the frictional force
will be in the opposite direction of motion (Ff)
 Frictional force will be discussed in next slide.
 The frictional force on an object sliding on a
surface is:
F f  N
 mu (μ) is called the frictional coefficient and N is
the normal force.
 There are two types of frictional coefficients:
 Coefficient of Static Friction: μs
 Coefficient of Kinetic Friction: μk
 Initially it is hard to push an object since one must
overcome static friction, but once it gets moving
then a smaller force is needed to keep it moving
(kinetic friction).
 Remember a vector is a quantity that has both
magnitude and direction (velocity, acceleration,
force, etc.)
 Vectors can be resolved into components:
Fx  F cos 
F
Fy  F sin  


  Fy
 Fx F  F Fx
2
y
2
 Assume a Force F=100 N is applied at an angle
of 30 degrees in the previous diagram:
 First find the x component of Force:
Fx  F cos 
Fx  100 cos 30  86.6 Newtons

 Next find the y component of Force:

Fx  F sin  
Fx  100 sin  30   50.0 Newtons
 If there are many forces acting on an object with
different magnitudes and different directions then
just break each force into components and finally
find the net force in both the x & y directions:
 Once the sum of the forces in each direction are
found then just use Pythagorean theorem to find
the resultant force’s magnitude.
 Finally use the tan-1 of the y component of force
divided by the x component of force in order to
find the direction angle of the resultant.
 Example of resolving multiple forces on next
slide…
 00N
1
-50 N   30
 The force in the left direction (-50 N) only has a x component of force: Fx=-
50 N
 The force (100 N) at an angle of 30 degrees has both x and y components of
force:
 Fx=100cos(30) = 86.6 N
 Fy=100sin(30) = 50.0 N
 Now sum all the forces in the x and y direction:
 ΣFx= -50 + 86.6 = 16.6 N
 ΣFy= 50 N (only one component in y direction)
 Use Pythagorean Theorem to find resultant force:
F  16.6 2  50 2  52.7 Newtons
 The direction of the resultant force is :  50 
  tan 1    71.6


 16.6 