Unit 2.

Forces and their effects

2.1 Mass and Weight

Mass and Matter

• The mass of a body is a measure of amount of the matter it contains.
(greater amount of matter à greater mass)
• Unit of mass à kilogram (kg)

Weight (W = m g)

• It is the force (W) exerted on an object that has mass (m) by gravity (g).

• The gravitational field strength (N/kg) is the force that acts on each kilogram of mass.
• Unit of gravity à N/kg (9.8 N/kg near and on earth à 10 N/kg for easy calculation)
• Moon’s gravity à 1.6 N/kg
(greater mass à greater weight)

Weighing using a newtonmeter

• Reset the scale to zero, suspend the object from the newtonmeter hook
and read the scale to get weight

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2.2 Density (𝜌)

Density (𝜌 ‘rho’)– is the mass (m) of the material in a certain volume (V).

• Units à g/cm3 or kg/m3 (1 g/cm3 = 1000 kg/m3 because 1m3 = 106 cm3)

Activity (P) Investigate the density of solids

a) Volume of regular mass = length (l) x
width (w) x height (h)
b) Volume of irregular mass = volume of
displaced liquid by solid

• An object is less dense than the liquid à object floats on the liquid
• An object is more dense than the liquid à object sinks into the liquid
• Two liquids have different density (water & oil) à don’t mix (less dense floats)

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405

2.3 Force and shape

Forces that change shapes

Forces can change thing’s shapes temporarily or permanently

1) Temporary change of shape
• It provides a useful way of absorbing and storing energy (e.g., suspension spring in
mountain bike and elastic bands)
2) Permanent change of shape
• It means the failure of structure (e.g., a crushed can or a car that has collided with
another object)

Stretch test: Investigating how the extension of a material (spring,

rubber band, polythene strip) changes with load

• Measure the length of unstretched material with half-meter rule
• Then the material is loaded with different weights
• Measure and record the extension for each load using a set
square (to be accurate)
• Plot the extension of spring against the load

• Steel spring à a straight line (the extension is directly

proportional to its suspended weight)
• Rubber band and polythene strip à not a straight line

Hooke’s Law
• Robert Hooke measured the increase in length (extension) by different load forces on
spring and plotted them
• Result – the extension of the spring is proportional to the force (Hooke’s law)

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405

 • Hooke’s law only applies when the spring is stretched within elastic limit (limit of
proportionality, k).

• Beyond limit of proportionality, the spring will not return to its original length when
the weights are removed
• It also applies on some wire (but not some wire which are stretched electrically and then
plastically)

2.4 Force and motion

There are more than one force in most situation and all these forces acting on the object is
simply called as the resultant force.
Two forces along the same line with opposite directions
• Equal in size (magnitude) à resultant force is zero à called balanced force à no
movement
• Forward force > backward force (friction) à resultant force is non-zero à called
unbalanced force à movement

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405

2.5 More about force and motion
• To move things (to pull out a car stuck in mud), non-zero resultant force is needed (the
force of the tractor must be greater than the force of the mud on the car)

Investigating force, mass and acceleration

• A newtonmeter is used to pull the trolley along with a constant force
• The total moving mass can be doubled or trebled by using double-deck and triple-deck
trolley.
• A motion sensor and a computer are used to record the speed of the trolley as it
accelerates.

Unbalanced force (F) makes an object (m) change its velocity/ motion (accelerate, a)

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405

2.6 Momentum – a quantity possessed by masses (kg) in motion (m/s)

• It is a measure of how difficult it is to stop something that is moving.

• It is a vector (both magnitude & direction).
• Unit à kg m/s

Law of conservation of momentum in collisions

• The total momentum of objects that collide remains the same.

Momentum before collision = momentum after collision

• The increase in momentum of one object is exactly balanced by the decrease in

momentum of another object.

Push trolly A to collide trolly B and

record the velocity of trolly A before
collision and the velocity of both
trolleys afterwards

1) For two trolleys of the same mass – the velocity of trolley A is reduced to half (v1 à ½
v2) and twice the mass (m à 2 m [trolly A+B])
momentum before collision (m x v1) = momentum after collision (2m x ½ v2)
2) For a single trolley pushed into a double trolley – the velocity of trolley A is reduced to
one-third (v1 à 1/3 v2) and three times of the mass (m à 3 m [trolly A+B+C])
momentum before collision (m x v1) = momentum after collision (3m x 1/3 v)

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405

2.7 Explosions

Investigating a controlled explosion

§ Two trolleys are connected with a spring bolt
§ When trigger rod is tapped, a bolt springs out and
the trolleys recoil (spring back) from each other.

• Two trolleys have same masses à speed of

A = speed of B (equal distance in the same time)
• half mass of trolley A than trolley C à twice
the speed of A than trolley C
• one-third mass of trolley A than trolley C à three times speed of A than trolley C

Momentum in action
• When a shell is fired from a military gun, the gun barrel recoils backwards. The recoil
of the gun barrel is slowed down by a spring. This lessens the backwards motion of the gun.

• Rockets uses principle of conservation of momentum to propel spacecraft through

space by continuous controlled explosion that forces large amount of fast-moving gases
(produced by the fuel) out of the back of rocket
amount of momentum forward = momentum of the moving exhaust gases

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405

2.8 Impact forces

Car safety
• Steep roads often have escape lanes filled with deep, soft sand to slow down the lorries
by making times (t) to stop longer.
• Safety features in car – to increase the impact time during momentum changes by
crumple zone, air bag and seat belt

Impact time – the time duration that the impact force acts on the object
Investigating impacts by using trolley with plasticine
• When the trolley hits the brick, the plasticine reduces
impact force by making the impact time longer

• The longer the impact time, the less the impact force because the momentum of the
object is lost as kinetic energy over a greater distance.
• F = ma & a = (v-u)/t

In two-vehicles collision, total momentums of two vehicles before and after collision are the
same. The effect of an impact on an object is expressed as a force-to-weight ratio, g-force.

Dr. Min Min Than M.B.,B.S, M.Med.Sc, Ph.D. (Biochemistry) 09761044405