1

G.9, 1.3 Forces and Movement

Force, Mass and Acceleration

Forces make things speed up, slow down, change direction or change shape. The acceleration
of an object is proportional to the force of acting on it. (double the force_____ double the
acceleration)if the mass is constant.

1. Acceleration a = force/mass= F/m

For a given force, the bigger the mass of an object the smaller the rate of acceleration.

2. Mass m = force/ acceleration= F/a

Resultant Force: It gives an acceleration to an object.

1. If the object is stationary, it will gain speed.

2. If the object is moving, it will gain or lose speed depending on the direction of the force.

Acceleration Stationary Object Resultant force

Acceleration Object moving this way Resultant force

Acceleration Resultant force

Object moving this way

(the object slows down)

NOTE: (1) If a friction force acts on a moving body and there is no forward force, there is a
resultant force backwards on the body and it will slow down.

(2). If no resultant force acts on a moving body, it will continue moving with the same speed.

(3). Acceleration is in a direction of the resultant force.

(4) 1 newton is the force needed to make a mass of one kilogram accelerate at one metre per
second squared.
 2

Friction and Braking

Thinking Distance: The distance travelled in the time between the moment a hazard appears
and the moment the driver responds to it by applying the brakes. This distance is called the
thinking distance.

# Factors affects thinking distance

# Slower reaction time due to alcohol, tiredness or distractions. Reaction time can also be
increased by caffeine, which reduces the thinking distance.

Braking Distance: The distance travelled in the time between pressing the brakes and the
vehicle coming to a stop is called the braking distance.

# Factors affects braking distance

# Greater speed or mass

# Poor road conditions (icy, wet) or car conditions ( worn tires, worn brake pads).

# The stopping distance is the sum of the thinking distance and braking distance.

Factors affect stopping distance

The factors affecting vehicle stopping distance including speed, mass, road condition and
reaction time.

*****AIR RESISTANCE AND TERMINAL VELOCITY*****

Review

Acceleration occurs when speed changes. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.

A body in free fall near the Earth has constant acceleration, which is called the acceleration due
to gravity or the gravitational field strength ( g).

The gravitational field strength (g) is the force that acts on each kilogram of mass,

Weight W (N) = m (kg) x g (N/kg)

 3

Air Resistance or Drag

An object moving through air experiences a force that opposes its movement. This force is
called air resistance or drag. Streamlined smooth surface produce less drag.

Objects falling through the air experience two significant forces.

a. The weight force ( the pull of gravity on the object)

b. The opposing drag force.

Example: Motion of a body falling in a uniform gravitational field.

# The object has just been released, the initial velocity is 0m/s.

# Initially, there is no air resistance/ no drag (too small to consider) and the only force acting
on it is weight force (mg).

# As it falls, the velocity increasing and drag force FD increasing and accelerates which
increases its speed and hence air resistance (drag force) acts upward against the movement.

# This causes the resultant force downwards to decrease. (mg-FD)

# The drag force has made the resulting downward force smaller, so the acceleration is smaller.

# Eventually they are equal and opposite and balance so there is no resultant force.

# So, there is no acceleration and the terminal velocity is reached.

TERMINAL VELOCITY

Terminal velocity: When drag is equal to weight, there is no net external force on the object and

the vertical acceleration goes to zero with no acceleration, the object falls at a constant velocity
as described by Newton’s 1st law of motion. This constant vertical velocity is called the terminal
velocity.
 4

PARACHUTES

Page 39: Number 10

A: At starting point the initial velocity is zero. Therefore air resistance is zero, the unbalanced
force is downwards. (Because of gravity or weight of the parachutist)

B: When the velocity of the parachutist increases, the upward air resistance also increase. So
the unbalanced downwards force is smaller.

C: At that point C, the velocity of the parachutist has increased to the point where the upward air
resistance force is exactly the same as the downward force of gravity on the parachutist. The
unbalanced force is zero and the parachutist has reached terminal velocity.
 5

D: The parachutist has opened her parachute at this time. This gravity increases the upward air
resistance force so the unbalanced force on the parachutist is now upwards. And then the
parachutist’s velocity decreases.

E: As the parachutist slows down, the upward air resistance force due to the parachute
decreases. This means that the unbalanced upward force is smaller. (So the rate of
deceleration of the parachutist decreases.)

F: The parachutist has slowed to a velocity at which the upward acting air resistance is once
again equal to the downward acting force of gravity. The unbalanced force is again zero. (But
note that the effect of opening the parachute is to make the new terminal velocity lower.)