Newton’s Laws of Motion and Gravitation

Introduction:
In Newton’s first law we have discussed the equilibrium condition for a particle and
seen that when the resultant force acting on the particle is zero, it is in equilibrium and,
of course, the acceleration of the body is also zero. The next logical step is to ask how
a body behaves when the resultant force on it is not zero. The answer to this question
is contained in second law, which shows that when the resultant force is not zero the
body moves with accelerated motion, and that with a given force, the acceleration
depends on a property of the body known as mass.

Newton’s first law of motion:

According to Newton's first law “An object at rest will remain at rest and an object in
motion continues in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless it is
acted upon by an unbalanced force.”

This law is often called “the law of inertia". This means that there is a natural tendency
of objects to keep on doing what they're doing. All objects resist changes in their state
of motion. In the absence of an unbalanced force, an object in motion will maintain this
state of motion.

The equilibrium condition of a body:

If an object is not accelerating, it is in equilibrium. Newton's First Law says that" if the
net force on an object is zero, it will be in equilibrium - it won't accelerate". The
converse of this statement is also true - "If an object is in equilibrium (is not
accelerating), then the net force on it must be zero."

Suppose there is a book lying (at rest) on a table. The book is not accelerating - in
other words, it is in equilibrium. Since it is in equilibrium, the net force on the book is
zero. The Earth is pulling downward on the book with a force we call the book's weight.
Suppose the book's weight is 10 N. If this were the only force on the book, there would
be a net force on the book, and the book would not be in equilibrium. The table must
be exerting an upward force on the book of exactly 10 N in order to balance (or cancel)
the weight. This force, exerted by the table on the book, is called a support force or
normal force.

Newton’s second law of motion:

We know, from experience, that an object at rest never starts to move by itself; a push
or pull must be exerted on it by some other body. Similarly, a force is required to slow
down or to stop a body already in motion, and to make a moving body deviate from
straight line motion requires a sideway force. All these processes (speeding up,
slowing down, or changing direction) involve a change in either the magnitude or
direction of the velocity. Thus in each case the body accelerates, and an external force
must act on it to produce the acceleration. The second law discusses about these
factors and states that “The rate of change of momentum of a body is directly
proportional to the applied force and acts in the direction of the force.”
Mathematically this law can be represented as
 dp
F
dt

Where, p  momentum=𝑚𝑣⃗=mass  velocity of the body

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PHY 101/Chapter-3
  
dp
F C ………………… (1)
dt
Where C = constant and is chosen as C =1.
Then we can write from (1)
 dp d 

dv 
F  (mv )  m  ma
dt dt dt
 
Therefore F  ma ………………. (2)
If we consider only magnitudes, then
F = ma
Therefore
F
m
a

Concept of inertial mass:

From this relation the concept of inertial mass of a body can be defined. If we apply a
force to a body it will accelerate i. e. acceleration is produced in the body. The ratio of
the applied force to the corresponding acceleration is called the mass.
This definition of mass is termed as the definition of the inertial mass and, in fact, it is
purely a mathematical concept.

Newton’s third law of motion:

Newton’s third law states that “For every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction.”

This means that for every force there is a reaction force that is equal in size, but
opposite in direction. That is to say that whenever an object pushes another object it
gets pushed back in the opposite direction equally hard. If a body acts a force F1 upon
another body, the second body will also act a force F2 upon the first body. According to
Newton’s third law, F1 = - F2. Here, F1 is the action and F2 is the reaction of that action.

Newton’s law of gravitation:

The law of universal gravitation was described by Newton and may be stated as,
“Every particle of matter in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is
directly proportional to the product of the masses of the particle and inversely
proportional to the square of the distance between them.”
Suppose m1, m2 are the masses of two particles and d is the distance between them,
then according the law of gravitation,
1
Fg  m1 m2 & Fg 
d2
Therefore,
m1m2
Fg  G ………………… (3)
d2
Where, Fg is the gravitational force on either particle and G is a constant known as
universal gravitational constant.

Concept of gravitational mass:

We have defined mass of a body as a mathematical concept which is called inertial
mass. Gravitational mass is the mass of an object measured using the effect of a

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PHY 101/Chapter-3
gravitational field on the object. Gravitational mass is measured by comparing the
force of gravity of an unknown mass to the force of gravity of a known mass.

If the earth were a homogeneous sphere of mass mE, the force exerted by it on a small
body of mass m, at a distance r from the center, would be
mmE
Fg  G ,
r2
This small body of mass m is called the gravitational mass.

The above equation provides that the body lies outside the earth i. e. r is greater than
the radius of the earth. Thus it is also shown that the gravitational force exerted on or
by a homogeneous sphere is the same as if the entire mass of the sphere were
concentrated in a point at its center.

At points inside the earth, these statements need to be modified. The force would be
found to decrease as the center is approached, rather than increasing as 1/r2. This
occurred because, as the body enters the interior of the earth, some of the earth’s
mass is on the side of the body opposite from the center of the earth and pulls the
body in the opposite direction. Exactly at the center of the earth, the gravitational force
on the body is zero.

Weight:
The weight of a body can be defined as the resultant gravitational force exerted on the
body by all other bodies in the universe.
If the earth were a homogeneous sphere of radius R and mass mE, the weight W of a
small body of mass m at or near its surface would be
GmmE
W  Fg  …………… (4)
R2
When a body is allowed to fall freely, the force accelerating it is its weight W, and the
acceleration produced by this force is the acceleration due gravity g. The general
relation F=ma therefore becomes, for the special case of a freely falling body
W  mg ………………. (5)
From (4) and (5), it follows that
GmE
g …………….. (6)
R2
Equation (6) shows that the acceleration due to gravity is the same for all bodies and
very nearly constant.

Applications of Newton’s law:

Example 1: A block whose mass is 10 kg rests on a horizontal table. What constant

horizontal force T is required to give it a velocity of 4 ms-1 in 2 s. Assume that the block
starts from rest, the friction between the surface of table and block is 5N.

Solution:
The acceleration is
v  v0 4ms 1  0
a   2ms  2 f T
t 2s
The resultant of the force along x-axis is
W

Dr. Md. Readul Mahmud/Lecturer, SECS 3

PHY 101/Chapter-3
 F x  T  f  ma x
 T  ma x  f  (10kg )(2ms  2 )  5 N  25 N
Therefore the horizontal force is 25N.

Example 2: An elevator and its load have a total mass of 800kg. Find the tension T in
the supporting cable when the elevator, originally moving downward at 10ms-1, is
brought to rest with constant acceleration in a distance of 25m.

Solution: T
The acceleration can be obtained from v 2  v0  2ay
2

Here v0 and y is negative since they are measured in downward direction.

800kg
v 2  v0 0  (10ms 1 ) 2
2

a    2ms  2
2y 2(25m)
The acceleration is positive and therefore in upward direction.
The resultant force is W
F  T W
where W is the weight of the elevator.
Therefore the tension T is

T  F  W  ma  mg  m(a  g )  800kg 2ms 2  9.8ms 2 
 T  9440 N
Therefore the tension is 9440N.
The tension T must be greater than the weight W to cause the upward acceleration
while the elevator is stopping.

Exercise 4-1: a) what is the mass of a body that weighs 1N at a point where g = 9.8ms-2
b) weighs 1dyne at a point where g = 980cms-2?

Solution:
a) We know,
W  mg
W 1N
m    0.102kg .
g 9.8ms  2
W 1dyne
b) m   0.00102 g.
g 980cms  2

Exercise 4-5: A constant horizontal force of 40N acts on a body on a smooth

horizontal table. The body starts from the rest and is observed to move 100m in 5s.
a) What is the mass of the body?
b) If the force ceases to act at the end of 5s, how far will the body move in the next
5s?

Solution:
a) The acceleration of the body can be obtained from
1
x  x0  v0t  at 2
2

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PHY 101/Chapter-3
 x0  0, v0  0, t  5s, x  100m,40 N
Here, 2 x 2(100m)
a  2
 2
 8ms 2
t (5s )
Therefore, the mass of the body is
F  ma
F 40 N
m    5kg
a 8ms 2
b) If the force is ceased the body will move in constant speed. Just before the ceasing
of force the velocity of the body can be obtained from the relation,
v 2  v0  2ax  0  2(8ms 2 )(100m)  1600m 2 s 2
2

 v  40ms 1
The body will move with this velocity for 5s.
Therefore, the distance covered with constant speed = (40ms-1)5s = 200m.

Exercise 4-12: The moon is 0.38×109m from the earth and has a mass of 7.36×1022kg.
Find the gravitational force it exerts on a 1kg body on earth; express your result also as
a fraction of body’s weight.

Solution:
The gravitational force is
m1m2
Fg  G
r2
G  6.67  10 11 Nm 2 kg 2 , m1  7.36  1022 kg , m2  1kg , r  0.38  109 m
Here,
 Fg 
6.67  10 11
 
Nm 2 kg  2 7.36  10 22 kg 1kg 
 3.39  10 5 N
0.38  10 m 9 2

In the earth the body’s weight is


W  1kg  9.8ms 2  9.8 N 
Therefore, the fraction is
3.39  105 N
fraction   3.46  10 6
9.8 N
Exercise 4-17: The mass of the moon is about one eighty-first, and its radius one-
fourth, that of the earth. What is the acceleration due to gravity on the surface of the
moon?

Solution:
The acceleration due to gravity can be defined from the relation,
Gm
g
R2
5.96  1024 kg 6370000 m
G  6.67  1011 Nm 2 kg  2 , m  ,R 
81 4
 5.96  10 kg 
 
24
Here, 6.67  1011 Nm 2 kg  2  
g   81   1.94ms  2
 6370000 m 
 
 4 

Dr. Md. Readul Mahmud/Lecturer, SECS 5

PHY 101/Chapter-3