4 Quarter Class work no.

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Chapter 4.1: changes in motion

Force: an action exerted on an object which may change the object’s state of rest or
motion
Forces can cause accelerations

A force can cause a stationary object to move, as when you throw a ball.

A force also causes moving objects to stop, as when you catch a ball.

A force can also cause a moving object to change direction, such as when a baseball

collides with a bat and flies off in another direction.

Notice that in each of these cases, the force is responsible for a change in velocity with
respect to time—an acceleration.

 The SI unit of force is the newton

The SI unit of force is the newton, named after Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727),

The newton (N) is defined as the amount of force that, when acting on a 1 kg mass, produces
an acceleration of 1 m/s2. Therefore, 1 N = 1 kg × 1 m/s2.

 Forces can act through contact or at a distance

If you pull on a spring, the spring stretches. When a football is caught, its motion is stopped.
These pushes and pulls are examples of contact forces, which are so named because they
result from physical contact between two objects.

PHYSICS : Grade12 |SUNRISE LANGUAGE SCHOOL 4th quarter 1

 Another class of forces—called field forces—does not involve physical contact between two
objects. One example of this kind of force is gravitational force. Whenever an object falls to
Earth, the object is accelerated by Earth’s gravity. In other words, Earth exerts a force on the
object even when Earth is not in immediate physical contact with the object.

 Force is a vector
When you push a toy car, it accelerates. If you push the car harder, the acceleration will be
greater. In other words, the acceleration of the car depends on the force’s magnitude. The
direction in which the car moves depends on the direction of the force. For example, if you
push the toy car from the front, the car will move in a different direction than if you push it
from behind.

 A free-body diagram helps analyze a situation

A free-body diagram is used to analyze only the forces affecting the motion of a single
object.

you will learn to use free-body diagrams to find component and resultant forces.

(a) In a force diagram, vector arrows represent all the forces acting in a situation.

(b) A free-body diagram shows only the forces acting on the object of interest—in this case,
the car.

PHYSICS : Grade12 |SUNRISE LANGUAGE SCHOOL 4th quarter 2

 Problem A
The photograph at right shows a person pulling a
sled. Draw a free-body diagram for this sled. The
magnitudes of the forces acting on the sled are 60 N
by the string, 130 N by the Earth (gravitational
force), and 90 N upward by the ground.

Drawing Free-Body Diagrams

1- A truck pulls a trailer on a flat stretch of road. The forces acting on the trailer are the
force due to gravity (250 000 N downward), the force exerted by the road (250 000 N
upward), and the force exerted by the cable connecting the trailer to the truck (20 000 N to
the right). The forces acting on the truck are the force due to gravity (80 000 N downward),
the force exerted by the road (80 000 N upward), the force exerted by the cable (20 000 N to
the left), and the force causing the truck to move forward (26 400 N to the right).

a. Draw and label a free-body diagram of the trailer.

PHYSICS : Grade12 |SUNRISE LANGUAGE SCHOOL 4th quarter 3

 b. Draw and label a free-body diagram of the truck.

2- A physics book is at rest on a desk. Gravitational force pulls the book down. The desk
exerts an upward force on the book that is equal in magnitude to the gravitational force.
Draw a free-body diagram of the book.

SECTION REVIEW

1. List three examples of each of the following:

a. a force causing an object to start moving

b. a force causing an object to stop moving

c. a force causing an object to change its direction of motion

2. Give two examples of field forces described in this section and two examples of contact
forces you observe in everyday life. Explain why you think that these are forces.

3. What is the SI unit of force? What is this unit equivalent to in terms of fundamental units?

4. Why is force a vector quantity?

5. Draw a free-body diagram of a football being kicked. Assume that the only forces acting
on the ball are the force due to gravity and the force exerted by the kicker.

PHYSICS : Grade12 |SUNRISE LANGUAGE SCHOOL 4th quarter 4