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General Physics 1 – Grade 12 (STEM)

Learning Activity Sheets
Quarter 1 – Week 4: Newton’s First Law of Motion

First Edition, 2021

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Development Team of the Learners’ Activity Sheets

Writer: Shekaina Faith C. Lozada

Division Validators: Marvelous Saint P. Jumanoy

AR A. Ranesis
Marvin T. Tejano
Juzalin L. Costuya
Ric Me Diaz
Edna E. Trinidad, EdD

Regional Validators: Relyn D. Raza

Ace Michael B. Magalso
Jonas Saldia
Glen Pacot

Management Team: Josita B. Carmen, Schools Division Superintendent

Gilbert L. Gayrama, PhD, Asst. Schools Division Superintendent
Celsa A. Casa, PhD, CID Chief
Bryan L. Arreo, LR Manager
Edna Trinidad, EdD, Science Education Program Supervisor

Author: Shekaina Faith C. Lozada

School/Station: Gamut National High School
Division: Surigao del Sur
email address: shekainah.lozada@deped.gov.ph 1
 WEEKLY LEARNING ACTIVITY SHEETS
General Physics 1, Grade 12, Quarter 1, Week 4

NEWTON’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION

Name: ___________________________________________ Section: ____________________

Learning Competencies:
- Define inertial frames of reference (STEM_GP12N-Id-28)
- Identify action-reaction pairs (STEM_GP12N-Id-31)
- Draw free-body diagrams (STEM_GP12N-Id-32)
- Apply Newton’s 1st law to obtain quantitative and qualitative conclusions about the
contact and noncontact forces acting on a body in equilibrium (STEM_GP12N-Ie-33)
- Differentiate the properties of static friction and kinetic friction (STEM_GP12N-Ie-34)

Specific Objectives:
The learners shall be able to:
1. define inertial frames of reference;
2. identify action-reaction pairs;
3. draw free-body diagrams on the forces acting on the objects;
4. apply newton’s first law of motion on a body in equilibrium; and
5. give the differences between static and kinetic frictions.

Time Allotment: 4 hours

Key Concepts
 Sir Isaac Newton has significant contribution in the field of Physics as he combined his
idea with other scientists like Galileo, who have the most unified picture of how the
universe works. Newton formulated the three laws of motion and gravitation by which we
can be able to predict the movement of everything around us.
 Inertia is the property of matter in which an object that is at rest wants to remain at
rest, and an object that is moving wants to remain moving in a straight line unless
another force acts upon it. Likewise, an inertial frame of reference is a reference frame
in which an object stays either at rest or at a constant velocity unless another force acts
upon it.
 Sir Isaac Newton formulated three laws of motion: Law of Inertia, Law of Acceleration
and Law of Interaction.
 When no net force acts on a body, the body either remains at rest or moves with constant
velocity in a straight line. Once a body has been set in motion, no net force is needed to
keep it moving. This is known as Newton’s First Law of Motion or Law of Inertia. A
body at rest continues to remain at rest and a body in constant velocity continues to be in
constant uniform motion, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
 Newton’s first law tells that when a body is acted on by zero net force, it moves with
constant velocity and zero acceleration. But when the net force is not zero, the inertial
properties of a body are characterized by its mass.

Author: Shekaina Faith C. Lozada

School/Station: Gamut National High School
Division: Surigao del Sur
email address: shekainah.lozada@deped.gov.ph 2
  It is important to note that the net force is what matters in Newton’s first law. Zero net
force is equivalent to no force at all.
 The Law of Inertia or Newton’s first law of motion considers only equilibrium of a body
that can be modelled as a particle. For a body to be in equilibrium, it must be acted on
by no forces, or by several forces such that their net force is zero. This means that when
an object is at rest or moving with constant velocity in an inertial frame of reference, the
net force on it which is the vector sum of all the forces acting on it must be zero:
ƩF = 0
 This law implies that there is no fundamental difference between bodies at rest and one
that is in constant motion.
 Free-body diagrams are diagrams used to show the relative magnitude and direction of
all forces acting upon an object in a given situation. It is a physical model of an object
that is affected by several forces, both contact and non-contact forces. It is a diagram
showing the chosen body by itself with vectors drawn to show the magnitudes and
direction of all the forces applied on the body by various other bodies interact with it.
 Moreover, it is usually represented by an arrow. The size of the arrow in a free-body
diagram reflects the magnitude of the force. The direction of the arrow shows the direction
that the force is acting. Each force arrow in the diagram is labelled to indicate the exact
type of force.
 It is generally customary in a free-body diagram to represent the object by a box and to
draw the force arrow from the center of the box outward in the direction that the force is
acting. An example of a free-body diagram is shown below.

Fig. 1 Free-body Diagram

Source: General Physics 1 for Senior High School, 1st Edition
 The free-body diagram above depicts four forces acting upon the object. Objects do not
necessarily always have four forces acting upon them. There will be cases in which the
number of forces depicted by a free-body diagram will be one, two, or three. There is no
hard and fast rule about the number of forces that must be drawn in a free-body diagram.
The only rule for drawing free-body diagrams is to depict all the forces that exist for that
object in the given situation.
 STEPS IN CONSTRUCTING FREE – BODY DIAGRAMS
1. Identify which forces are present.
2. Determine the direction in which each force is acting.
3. Draw a box and add arrows for each existing force in the appropriate direction; label
each force arrow according to its type.
Sample Situations:
1. An egg is free-falling from a nest in a
tree.

Fig. 2 Free-body Diagram of free-falling egg

Source: https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/
newtlaws/U2L2c.cfm#1

Author: Shekaina Faith C. Lozada

School/Station: Gamut National High School
Division: Surigao del Sur
email address: shekainah.lozada@deped.gov.ph 3
 2. A skydiver is descending with a constant velocity (after the parachute is open).
Consider air resistance.

Fig. 3 Free-body Diagram of a skydiver

Source: https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/
newtlaws/U2L2c.cfm#1

3. A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk at

constant velocity. Consider frictional forces. Neglect air resistance.

Fig. 4 Free-body Diagram of a book

Source: https://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/
newtlaws/U2L2c.cfm#1

 Forces may act on the body and produce no motion. Thus, when two bodies interact by
direct contact of their surfaces, the interaction is being described in terms of contact
forces. One example of contact force is Friction.
 Friction is a force that acts to oppose sliding motion between surfaces. When a body
rests or slides on a surface, the surface exerts a single contact force on the body, with
force components perpendicular and parallel to the surface. The perpendicular
component vector is the normal force, denoted by FN. The component vector parallel to
the surface is the friction force, denoted by Ff. If the surface is frictionless, then f is zero
but there is still a normal force. The direction of the friction force is always such as to
oppose relative motion of the two surfaces.
 The kind of friction that acts when a body slides over a surface is called kinetic friction
force, fk while static friction force act when there is no relative motion. In symbols,
frictional force Ff is
Ff = µFN
where, µ is the coefficient of friction (static or kinetic) which depends on the nature of
surface and are usually less than one.
 Friction depends upon the surfaces in contact. However, it is also assume that friction
does not depend on the area of the surfaces nor the speed of the relative motion of the
objects. The magnitude of the frictional force is proportional to the magnitude of the
force pushing one surface against the other.

Author: Shekaina Faith C. Lozada

School/Station: Gamut National High School
Division: Surigao del Sur
email address: shekainah.lozada@deped.gov.ph 4
 Sample Problem:
A cardboard box weighing 200 N is resting on a wooden tabletop. If the coefficient of
friction between the box and the table top is 0.25, how much force would it take to keep the
box sliding along at constant speed?
Given:
FN = 200 N
µ = 0.25
Solution:
Ff = µFN
Ff = (0.25) (200 N)
= 50 N

Author: Shekaina Faith C. Lozada

School/Station: Gamut National High School
Division: Surigao del Sur
email address: shekainah.lozada@deped.gov.ph 5