Lab 5

FORCE AND NEWTON’S LAWS

To Begin: http:/phetcolorado.edu -> HTML 5 SIMs -> Forces and Motion Basics

Part I - Newton’s First Law

Choose the “Motion” window to start the simulation

Make sure the boxes that say “Force”, “Values” and “Speed” are checked!

a) Apply a force of 50 N right to the box. Describe the motion of the box using physics terms (i.e.
velocity, acceleration, displacement). Refer to the speedometer in your answer.

Applying the force of 50N towards the right on the box will increase the box's velocity as indicated by the increase in numbers
on the speedometer.
As a result, the acceleration is constant to the right and the displacmemt increases towards the right.

b) Reset the scenario (don’t forget to check forces, speed again). Apply a force of 50 N to the right
for about 5 seconds then reduce the applied force to zero (the man should stop pushing). Don’t
reset the scenario. Describe the motion of the box. Refer to the speedometer in your answer.

Applying the force of 50N towards the right for 5 seconds on the box results in a constant velocity as the speedometer’s
number stays the same. The acceleration is zero and the displacement increasing towards the right.

c) Reset the simulation. Apply a force of 50N to the left. Describe the motion of the box.

Applying the force
of 50N towards the left on the box will increase the box's velocity to the left. As a result, the
acceleration is constant
to the left and the displacement increases towards the left.

d) Get the box moving to the left at a constant velocity. Make the box stop. Explain the exact steps
needed to make the box come to a stop.

In order to make
the box come to rest, a force towards the right has to be applied until the speedometer is at 0 m/s.
The greater the force that is applied, the quicker the box will come to a stop.

Summary
Newton’s First Law of Motion States “An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with
the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.” Explain how your
The observations in a and c showed that once there was a constant force applied to
observations in a - d support this Law.
the box, the result was an increasing velocity. B showed that a temporary force for a
short period applied to the box would result in a constant velocity of the box. All of this
relates to Newton's First Law. When there is no force applied to the box, the box won't
Part II - Newton’s Second Law move.
a) Reset the sim, don’t forget to check force, values and speed again. Remove the box and place a garbage
can on top of the skateboard. Using your timer/phone, measure the amount of time it takes to reach
maximum speed using a force of 50 N. Try this again with forces of 100N, and 200N.

Applied Force (N) Time To Max Speed (s)

50
01:20.15
100
00:40.00
200
00:20.00

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b) Reset the sim, check force, values, speed and the masses boxes this time. Set the applied force to 200 N
Right. Using your timer/phone measure the amount of time it takes to reach maximum speed. Repeat
with two crates, one crate and a garbage can, and a refrigerator. Record your findings!

Object – Mass (kg) Time To Max Speed (s)

50
00:10.28
100
00:20.28
150
00:30.03
200
00:40.03

Open up the “Graphical Analysis” Software on the laptop. Create a graph of time vs mass. Sketch this graph in the
space below. Recall how acceleration is related to time. Note: In this case the final speed of all the trials is the
same. Manipulate your time data to get an appreciation for how the acceleration of the mass changes in each
trial. Sketch an acceleration vs mass graph using this data in the space below (use GA software to help you)

Summary
Newton’s Second Law states “The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to
the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of
the object.” Explain how your observations in both a and b support this Law.
A. Increasing the force resulted in a decrease of time, which means the acceleration increased.
B. Increasing the mass results in an increase in time, which means acceleration decreased.
Part III - Friction’s Effects
The behavior of the skateboard in Part I and part II were not very realistic because friction was not present. At
the bottom of the screen is a simulation that includes friction. Select this simulation.

a) Set friction to “none”. Notice how the screen changed. Why do you think the app designers did
that?
Surfaces
have different amounts of friction which is why the app designers changed the ground to ice.
b) Make sure that only speed box is checked.
i. Apply a force to get the box to about half of it’s maximum speed, then remove the force.
ii. While the box is moving, move the friction slider to 1/2 way.

What happened to the box? The speed of the box decreases until at rest.
Summary
Yes, friction is a force. According to Newtons Second Law of Motion, it
Is friction a force? What evidence do you have? produces acceleration in moving objects in the opposite direction of motion. In
this case friction caused the box to slow down and stop, indicating friction
acting in the opposite direction of motion.
Part IV - Back to Newton’s Second Law
Reset the Friction app. Make sure Forces and Speed are checked.

a) Apply a force of 50 N. Describe the movement of the box.

The box will not move.

b) Apply a force of 100 N. Describe the movement of the box.

The box will not move.

c) Apply a force of 150 N. Describe the movement of the box.
The box moves because the applied force overcame the frictional forces.

d) Check the box that says “Sum of Forces”. Repeat procedures a, b, and c. What was different
about c?

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was greater than the friction force.

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Summary

Newton’s Second Law states “The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to
the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of
the object.” Explain how your observations relate to the underlined portion of this Law (hint, you might want to
look up the definition of the word “net”). When the box is not moving the net force is zero because the sum of the applied
and friction for e is zero. While the box is moving the net force is going to be more
than zero as the sum of tge applied and friction force is greater than zero,
Part V: Friction in Detail
a) Reset the app. Check the force and speed box. Apply 50 N of force to the crate. Slowly click (in
50 N increments) to increase the amount of applied force until the crate starts to
move/accelerate. Note the range of force values when the crate first started to move. Record
this range below (e.g. starts moving somewhere between 0 and 50 N).
At 126 N the box started moving.
b) Reset the app. Repeat the steps in “a”. Once you have just made the crate move do not adjust the
force any higher. Allow the block to move with this constant force for 2.0 seconds. Now reduce
the force by 50 N. How does the crate behave immediately after reducing the force by 50 N? Did
it keep accelerating? Move at a constant speed or decelerate? Does this behaviour surprise you
based on your knowledge of Newton’s 1st and 2nd Law. Why do you think the crate behaves this
way?


After reducing the force back to 50N the box decelerated, as a result the box stopped.

c) Reset the app. Check the speed, force, sum of forces and values boxes. Adjust the value of the
applied force using single Newton increments to determine the exact force required to make
the crate move. Mentally note the value of this force so you can record it after in the space
below. Now keep increasing the value of the applied force in large 50 N or small single Newton
increments. What happens to size of the friction force? What is the value of the friction force
now? Why does the friction force behave this way?

The box starts moving at 126 N applied force, until 125 N the applied force and frictional forces are equal in magnitude.

As the box sets into motion, the frictional force reduces from 125N to 94N. This is because kinetic friction is less than
static friction. d) Repeat step c and after the block has accelerated for 3.0 seconds reduce the applied force to 0
N. What happens to the size of the friction force after the applied force goes to 0 N? How does
the crate behave?

The box will gradually slow down and will come to rest.

e) Reset the app. Check the forces, values and speed boxes. Place another crate on top of the first.
Determine the minimum amount of force required to move the crates. Determine the minimum
amount of force required to keep the blocks moving at a constant speed. Record these below:

The minimum force required to set both crates into motion is 251N. The minimum amount of force
required to keep the blocks moving at a constant speed is 188N.

i. How do these values compare to the values found for one crate? What does this tell you
about the effect of mass on friction?
The frictional force for the case of two crates is greater than that of only one crate case. The frictional
force depends upon the mass. The greater the mass of the object the greater the frictional force.

f) Reset the app. Check the force and values boxes. Apply 50 N of force to the crate. What is the
value of the force of friction now? Record this. Increase the applied force and note how the
friction force behaves. Record this behaviour in the space below.

The force of friction is 50N. The frictional force will increase linearly until 126N. At 126N applied force
the frictional force will reduce to 94N.

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Summary
Make four or more general statements about the force of friction based on your observations in parts a – f.

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