Force and laws of motion

1) Force: It is the push or pull acting on an object. It is a

vector quantity. SI unit – Newton. It changes or tends
to change: direction, speed, shape, size of object, state
of rest or uniform motion.

2) Balanced forces: When the resultant of all forces

acting on an object is zero, the forces are said to be
balanced. Such forces can only change the size or
shape of the object but cannot change the state of rest
or motion.

3) Unbalanced forces: When the resultant of all forces

acting on an object is not zero, the forces are said to
be unbalanced. Such forces can change the state of
rest or motion.

4) Inertia: It is the natural tendency of a body to resist

change in the state of rest, uniform motion or direction.
Mass is the measure of inertia. Increase in mass leads
to increase in inertia.

5) Newton’s first law of motion ( law of inertia): It

states that every body in the nature continues to be in
its state of rest or uniform motion along a straight line
unless an external, unbalanced force acts on it.
6) Application questions:

a) When a stationary bus starts moving, a person

standing tends to fall backward. This is because the
lower part of the person’s body in contact with the
bus moves along with the bus but the upper part of
the body tends to fall backward due to inertia of rest.

b) When a moving bus stops, a person standing tends

to fall forward. This is because the lower part of the
person’s body in contact with the bus stops along
with the bus but the upper part of the body tends to
fall forward due to inertia of motion.

c) A person runs for a few metres before making a long

jump so that he can cover more distance. The body
has inertia of motion, so it continues to move ahead
and hence covers more distance.

d) A carpet is beaten with a stick: the dust particles fall

off. As the carpet moves, the dust particles
experience inertia of rest and fall off.
 e) On shaking the branch of a fruit tree, the fruits fall off.
As the branch moves, the fruits fall off due to inertia
of rest.

f) As the auto-rickshaw turns, a seated person tends to

fall outward. This is due to inertia of direction.

g) Luggage kept on top of a car is tied to the car. This

is to prevent the luggage from falling off. If it is not
tied, the luggage can fall off due to inertia of rest,
motion or direction.

7) Momentum: it is the quantity of motion possessed by

an object. It is the product of mass and velocity of the
object. It is a vector quantity. SI unit – Kg m/s

8) Newton’s second law of motion: the rate of change

of momentum of an object is directly proportional to
the applied unbalanced force and takes place in the
same direction of force.

9) Newton: It is the SI unit of force. It is defined as the

amount of force that produces an acceleration of one
m/s2 in an object of mass 1 kg.
10) Application questions:

a) The fielder lowers his hands while catching a fast

moving cricket ball. As the time taken to stop the ball
is more, the rate of momentum is less and hence, the
force acting on his hands is less.

b) A person falling on a sandy floor from a height gets

less hurt than a person falling on a concrete floor
from the same height. Since the time taken by the
person’s body to stop after falling on a sandy floor is
more, the rate of change of momentum is less and
hence the force acting on the body is less. Hence,
the person gets less hurt. ( same reason for a person
participating in a long jump competition jumps on a
sandy floor)

c) A karate player breaks a slab of ice or tiles with a

single, quick blow. As the time taken to break the
slab is less, the rate of change of momentum is more
and hence, the force on the slab is more.

11) Newton’s third law of motion: Every action has

equal and opposite reaction.
12) Application questions:

a) As we walk, we push the ground backward with our

feet and the ground pushes us forward.

b) When we swim, we push the water backward with

our hands and the water pushes us forward.

c) As the bird flies, it pushes the air downward with its

wings and the air pushes it upward.

d) When a gun is fired, it exerts a forward force in the

bullet. The bullet exerts an equal and opposite
reaction force on the gun. This results in the recoil of
the gun.

e) A fire-fighter finds it difficult to hold the water hose.

As the water flows in the forward direction with a
great force, the hose is pushed in the opposite
direction with the same force.

f) When a sailor jumps out of a rowing boat, as he

jumps forward, the force on the boat moves it
backward.
13) Law of conservation of momentum: The sum of
momenta of two objects before collision is equal to the
sum of momenta after the collision provided there is no
external unbalanced force acting on them.

CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM
Derivation
1) Suppose two objects (two balls A and B, say) of masses mA
and mB are travelling in the same direction along a straight
line at different velocities uA and uB, respectively .
2) And there are no other external unbalanced forces acting
on them.
3) Let uA > uB and the two balls collide with each other as
shown in Fig.
4) During collision which lasts for a time t, the ball A exerts a
force FAB on ball B and the ball B exerts a force FBA on ball
A.
5) Suppose vA and vB are the velocities of the two balls A and
B after the collision, respectively
 6) The momenta (plural of momentum) of ball A before and
after the collision are mAuA and mAvA, respectively.
7) The rate of change of its momentum (or FAB, action) during
(𝑣𝐴 −𝑢𝐴 )
the collision will be 𝑚𝐴 𝑡
8) Similarly, the rate of change of momentum of ball B (= FBA
(𝑣𝐵 −𝑢𝐵 )
or reaction) during the collision will be 𝑚𝐵 .
𝑡
9) According to the third law of motion, the force FAB exerted
by ball A on ball B (action) and the force FBA exerted by the
ball B on ball A (reaction) must be equal and opposite to
each other. Therefore,
10) 𝐹𝐴𝐵 = −𝐹𝐵𝐴
(𝑣𝐴 −𝑢𝐴 ) (𝑣𝐵 −𝑢𝐵 )
𝑚𝐴 = −𝑚𝐵
𝑡 𝑡

This gives, mAuA + mBuB = mAvA + mBvB