NATIONAL CHRISTIAN LIFE COLLEGE

SCIENCE 8 – WORKSHEET
Newton’s Laws of Motion – C

Name: __________________________________________________________ Section: _______________

Answer the following:
Critical Thinking Questions – Part I

1. Which law is associated with inertia?

Newton's first law of motion is associated with inertia. An object remains at rest and moves
at  a constant speed and in the same direction unless a force is acted on the object. 

2. If you increase the force on an object what happens to the acceleration?

As we increase the force on an object the acceleration increases proportionally. ... Therefore, if you double
the force you double the acceleration. If you increase the mass at a given force the rate of acceleration slows.
Therefore, mass is inversely proportional to acceleration.

3. If you use the same force on a less massive object what happens to the acceleration?
If the same force acts on two objects, the object with less mass will have the greater acceleration.
For instance, if you push a soccer ball and a bowling ball with equal force, the soccer ball will have a
greater acceleration. If objects lose mass, they can gain acceleration if the force remains the same.
4. Which law states force is dependent on the mass and acceleration of an object?
Newton's second law of motion pertains to the behavior of objects for which all existing forces are
not balanced. The second law states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two
variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object.
5. What causes an object to slowdown or speed-up?
When a force pushes or pulls the object, the object will move in the direction of the force. The bigger the
force, and the lighter the object, the greater the acceleration. It can also make something slow down, speed
up or change direction.

6. What law is known as the law of action-reaction?

The law of action-reaction (Newton's third law) explains the nature of the forces between the two
interacting objects. According to the law, the force exerted by object 1 upon object 2 is equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by object 2 upon object 1.
7. Which law explains why when you bump into something you fall backwards?
Newton's third law states: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

8. If you double the force of an object what happens to the acceleration?

As we increase the force on an object the acceleration increases proportionally. ... Therefore, if you
double the force you double the acceleration. If you increase the mass at a given force the rate of
acceleration slows. Therefore, mass is inversely proportional to acceleration.

9. If you double the mass of an object what happens to the acceleration?

Since the mass does not change as the acceleration increases, we can say that force is equal to
acceleration. Therefore, if you double the force you double the acceleration. If you increase the
mass at a given force the rate of acceleration slows. Therefore, mass is inversely proportional to
acceleration.
 10. Force is measured in newton (N). A newton is based on base units in the metric system.
What is a newton equal to in terms of units of mass and acceleration?

One newton is equal to 1 kilogram meter per second squared. In plain English, 1 newton of force is the
force required to accelerate an object with a mass of 1 kilogram 1 meter per second per second.
Exercises

1. How many Newton of force are represented by the following amount: 3 kg·m/sec2? Justify
your answer.
Newton is the SI unit of Force. Force is calculated as mass times acceleration. The unit of mass is the
kilogram (kg). The units of acceleration are meters per second squared ( [m/s^2] ). Thus, if

[F = m * a]

the units of force are:  [kg * m/s^2]

One Newton is the force required to accelerate a 1 kg mass at 1  [m/s^2]

or  [1 kg*m/s^2]

So 3 [kg*m/s^2] = 3 newtons

2. Your shopping cart has a mass of 65 kilograms. In order to accelerate the shopping cart
down an aisle at 0.3 m/sec2, what force would you need to use or apply to the cart?

Hence, to accelerate a shopping cart of mass 65 kg down an aisle with an acceleration of 0.3
m/s², we will require a Force of 19.5 kgm/s² or 19.5 N.

3. A small child has a wagon with a mass of 10 kilograms. The child pulls on the wagon with a
force of 2 Newton. What is the acceleration of the wagon?
Acceleration = Force / Mass
= 2 N / (10 kg)
= 0.2 m/s²

Acceleration of wagon is 0.2 m/s²

4. You dribble a basketball while walking on a basketball court. List and describe at least 3 pairs
of action-reaction forces in this situation.
The three action reaction forces are:

The gravitational force acting on the ball while dribbling.

Muscular force of the person who is dribbling.

Normal force while the basketball player is pushing the ball to dribble the ball has a normal force acting
against the gravity and the force acted while pushing the ball downwards to dribble.

5. Imagine a place in the cosmos far from all gravitational and frictional influences. Suppose
that you visit that place (just suppose) and throw a rock. What will the rock do? Why?

It will come back to you as there will be gravitational force from you to that rock and you will attract it
6. Supposing you were in space in a weightless environment, would it require a force to set an
object in motion? Explain.

7. Why doesn’t a ball roll on forever after being kicked at a soccer game?

8. A 2-kg object is moving horizontally with a speed of 4 m/s. How much net force is required
to keep the object moving at this speed and in this direction? Explain.

9. A 10-wheeler truck has a mass of 2 569.6 kg, if it accelerates at 4.65m/s 2 what is the net
force of the truck?

10. What is the rate of acceleration of a 2,000-kilogram truck if a force of 4,200 N is used
to make it start moving forward?