St.

Anthony’s College
San Jose, Antique
HIGH SCHOOL DEPARTMENT
SY 2021 – 2022

HANDOUTS IN SCIENCE 8

Lesson 1: Newton’s Three Laws of Motion

Learning Competencies:
At the end of the lesson, the learners shall be able to:
1. investigate the relationship between the amount of force applied and the mass of the object to the amount of
change in the object’s motion; and
2. infer that when a body exerts a force on another, an equal amount of force is exerted back on it.

1. Laws of Motion

In the 16th century, Sir Isaac Newton made a very important discovery. In his
book Principia, he stated that the motion of all the objects in the universe are
governed by only three laws.

This discovery had a great consequence that time. Before, the existing belief
was that the movement of planets and stars are described by different set of
rules compared to the movement of the objects here on Earth. Scholars used to
analyze celestial bodies differently compared to the objects here in our planet.

So, what’s the secret? According to Sir Isaac Newton, the unifying concept is
force. Force dictates motion.

1.1. Force
Moving things that are at rest requires pushing or pulling. If you want to move a furniture, you push it forward.
If you want to lift a chair, you pull it upward.

Stopping or slowing down moving objects also involves a push or a pull.

For example, if you want to stop a cart from moving, you can pull it backwards from its handles. You may also
push backwards. A push or a pull on an object is called force.

Force is a vector quantity. A vector quantity is a

measurement with two components: magnitude and
direction. In describing force, mentioning its strength
is not enough. The direction to which a force is
directed should also be included.

Take note of the figure on the right. Both persons are

applying a great amount of force to the cart. The
difference is that the person on the left is pulling to
the left while the person on the right is pulling to the right.

Net Force
In most cases, more than one force is applied to an object. An
example for this is tug of war. Each of the players in the figure on the
right exerts a force on the rope. The sum of the forces applied to an
object is called net force, denoted as ∑F.

In solving for the net force, consider that the forces are vectors. We cannot just add forces together all the time
to get the net force. Forces applied in an opposite direction have to be expressed with opposite signs. For
example, in a tug of war, if students on the left exerts a force of 100N to the left and the students on the right
exerts another 100N to the right, it cannot be said that the net force is equal to 200N since they clearly negate
each other.

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The Cartesian coordinate system will be used as a guide in determining the signs
(positive or negative) of the forces. All forces directed upward, forward, or to the
right will be written as positive. On the other hand, all forces directed downward,
backward, or to the left will be written as negative.

Given this, the net force in the tug of war example can be solved this way:

Even though the students are exerting 100 N of force towards the opposite side, these forces negate each other
so the net force exerted on the rope is 0 N. it is as if no force is being applied to the rope.

Commonly Observed Forces

a. Gravity/Gravitational Force
It is the pull exerted by Earth on anything that has mass. This is always directed downward.
b. Normal Force
It is the force exerted by a surface to the object it supports to prevent it from falling down. It is always directed
perpendicular to the surface.
c. Friction
It is the force exerted by a surface to slow down an object or keep it from moving. Rough surfaces exert higher
friction than smooth surfaces.
d. Tension
Force exerted by a string or any connecting mechanism to an object.
e. Drag Force
Force exerted by the fluid to which an object is immersed in. This force is directed opposite to the direction of
the motion of the object, slowing it down. The fluid can be air or liquid. Another term for it is air/fluid
resistance.

Free Body Diagram

A free body diagram is an illustration containing the object and the
direction of the forces applied to it. It helps in visualizing problems
involving more than one force. In most cases, the object is represented
as simple circles or rectangles. You may draw the object itself if you
feel like it. However, forces should always be illustrated in the form of
arrows to indicate their direction.

1.2. Law of Acceleration

Acceleration refers to the rate of change of velocity of an object. If an
object slows down, speeds up, or changes its direction of motion, it has acceleration.

Determining the Direction of Acceleration

The direction of the motion does not always indicate the direction
of acceleration. This is the guide used for determining the direction
of the acceleration:
1. If an object is speeding up, the direction of the motion is similar
to the direction of the acceleration.
2. If an object is slowing down, the direction of the motion is
opposite to the direction of the acceleration.

Factors Affecting Acceleration

What factors affect the acceleration of an object? This question has
baffled a lot of scholars back then. In the 16th century, Isaac
Newton was able to answer this.

The picture on the right shows a boy pushing a cart. If another

person will help the boy in pushing the cart, we know that it will
speed up more. This means that as more push or pull is exerted on
an object, its acceleration increases.

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Aside from the strength of the push or pull, another factor that affects the acceleration of the cart is the mass. If
the cart is empty, it is easier to accelerate it. However, if a heavy load is placed on the cart, it will be more
difficult to do so. Therefore, increasing the mass of the object decreases its acceleration.

These observations are summarized by the second law of motion.

Law of Acceleration
The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the exerted force and inversely proportional to its mass.

Here are some observations that are confirmed by laws of acceleration.

1. Jeepneys full of passengers are heavier than a four-seater car. Therefore, jeepneys require more force to slow
down compared to jeepneys.
2. To escape an elephant chasing you, run in zigzags. Running in zigzags forces the elephant to accelerate left
and right. This is hard for the elephant because of its mass.
3. Smaller basketball players are usually quicker than bigger ones. They have less mass which requires them to
exert less force in shifting left and right.

The second law of motion can be stated mathematically using this equation:

Falling objects are being pulled down by gravity on Earth with an acceleration of 9.8 m/s2. To solve for the
gravitational force, also known as weight, the formula below is used:

Weight vs. Mass

In common language, weight and mass are usually interchangeable. However, this is not the case in Physics.
Mass refers to the amount of matter in an object. Weight is the force exerted by gravity on an object. For
example, a person who has a mass of 34 kg does not have a weight of 34 kg here on earth. His weight here is
equal to -333.2 N.

1.3 Law of Inertia

Law of Inertia tells us what happens if not net force is exerted on an object. To understand what it means, we
have to be familiar with equilibrium and inertia.

Equilibrium: The State of Zero Net Force

An object is said to be in equilibrium when the net force acting on
it is equal to zero. This is true for these two cases:
∑F = 0 if;
1. There is no force acting on an object; or
2. All the forces acting on an object are cancelling each other out.
In other words, the forces are balanced.

The book is being pulled down by gravitational force. However,

the normal force is exerted by the table to keep it from accelerating downward. The gravitational force is equal
but in opposite direction to the normal force.

Inertia
What happens when you are in a car and it suddenly stops? Do you feel that you are being nudged forward?
Does it mean that force exerted on you? If yes, where does it come from? If not, then what caused you to move
forward?

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All objects with mass have a property called inertia. Inertia is the
tendency of an object to keep its velocity constant. When you are in
a moving car and it suddenly stops, you are nudged forward
because your inertia intends to keep your forward motion. No net
force has caused you to move forward.

If an object has velocity equal to zero, then inertia keeps the object
from moving. For example, if you put coins on the top of paper, you
can actually pull the paper under the coins without them moving.

Heavy objects are harder to stop when they are moving. They are also harder to stop when at rest. Objects with
greater mass have greater inertia.

Law of Inertia
The law of inertia states that, when an object experience zero net
force, it keeps its velocity constant. To explain this further,
consider these two situations:
1. If an object is at rest, it will stay at rest unless acted upon by a
non-zero net force.
2. If an object is in motion, it will stay in motion at a constant
speed along a straight line unless acted upon by a non-zero net
force.

Rolling Ball Paradox

The law of inertia might be hard to accept at first because our
experiences contradict with it. If you roll a ball and no one stops it
from moving, the law states that it should keep on moving at
constant velocity. However, this is not what we observe in real
life. All objects that we roll on the floor eventually stops at some
point.

Does this mean that the law of inertia is not true? No. it just
means that law of inertia cannot be applied to a rolling ball on a
floor. This is because a rolling ball on the floor actually experiences an unbalanced force that slows it down:
friction. The interaction between the surface of the floor and the rolling ball provides friction on the ball.

When you roll a ball on different surfaces, you will notice that the time it takes before it stops depends on the
roughness of the floor.

1.4. Law of Interaction

The last law of motion is called law of interaction. It is also known as law of action-reaction.

Forces Exist in Pairs

Forces always occur in pairs. Every action exerted is met by an
equal but opposite reaction. The force exerted on an object is
the action while the force exerted by the object is the reaction.
These two forces are always equal in strength but directed in
opposing direction.

To understand the third law, try facing the wall. Make sure that
your toes touch it. After that, try leaning on the wall by
tiptoeing. What happened? Were you able to keep leaning to
the wall? Did you feel that as you push the wall, the wall is
also pushing you back? This is a common observation. As you
push an object, that object seems to push you back. For
example, try walking forward. How do you move forward
while walking? Notice that you move forward as you push the
floor backwards. Newton included this his third law of motion.
It is called as the law of acceleration.

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Law of Interaction (also referred to as Law of Action-Reaction)
Every action (force) always has an equal but opposite reaction.

In mathematical terms, it can be stated this way:

Fobject a on b = -Fobject b on a

Here are some observations related to law of interaction.

1. A swimmer moves forward by pushing the water backwards. The
reaction of the water pushes her forward.
2. As the book pushes the table downward because of its weight, the table
pushes the book upward.

Summing Up: The Three Laws of Motion

To sum up, here are the three laws of motion.
1. Law of Inertia: An object keeps a constant velocity unless acted upon
by an unbalanced force.
2. Law of Acceleration: The rate of change of the velocity of the object,
known as acceleration, is equal to the net force acting on it divided by its
mass.
3. Law of Interaction: For every action, there is an equal but opposite
reaction.

1.5. Uniform Circular Motion

There are a lot of common movements that fascinate physicists. One of them is called uniform circular motion.
An object in uniform circular motion moves along a circular path at a constant speed.

Uniform Circular Motion is Around Us

Uniform circular motion is an interesting study because it is so common. Here are some examples.
1. A carousel moving along a circular track
2. A roller coaster passing through a loop
3. An athlete throwing a hammer
4. A car moving along a curve (does not complete the entire circular path but still follows the motion)
5. The circular motion of planets around the sun

Centripetal Acceleration
Since uniform circular motion does not follow a straight line, it has acceleration. The acceleration that keeps an
object in uniform circular motion is called centripetal acceleration. This acceleration is always directed to the
center of the circular path of motion.

The magnitude of the centripetal acceleration can be measured using the equation below.

Centripetal Force
According to the second law of motion, an object will only accelerate if there is
an unbalanced force acting on it. Therefore, an object will only have a centripetal
acceleration if a force is exerted on it. Take a look at these examples:
1. A rock tied to a string and spin it. The force causing centripetal acceleration is
provided by the tension from the string.
2. The satellite revolves around the earth. The force causing
centripetal acceleration is provided by the gravitational force on earth.

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The centripetal force exerted on an object provides it with centripetal acceleration. Like the centripetal
acceleration, it is also directed to the center of the circular path. Following the second law of motion, this is the
equation for centripetal force.