Newton’s Laws

UFP PHYSICS WEEK 3

 By the end of this session, you will be able to:

 State Newton’s 1st Law of Motion

 Describe examples of Newton’s 1st Law
 State the conditions for equilibrium and be able to solve problems involving equilibrium.
 State Newton’s 2nd Law of motion (F = ma and F = ∆p / ∆t)
 Solve problems involving Newton’s 2nd Law
 State Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion
 Mass

 Chemists like to define mass (kg) as the amount of “stuff” or “matter” a substance
has.
 Physicists define mass (kg) as inertia, which is the ability of a body to resist
acceleration by a net force.
 Mass can also be measured in terms of energy because they are equivalent
according to Einstein's equation E = mc2
 Inertia
 Inertia is a term used to measure the ability of an object to resist a change in its state
of motion.
 An object with a lot of inertia takes a lot of force to start or stop; an object with a
small amount of inertia requires a small amount of force to start or stop.
 The word “inertia” comes from the Latin word inertus, which can be translated to
mean “lazy.”
Newton’s 1st Law of Motion

a body will remain in a state of rest or uniform motion unless acted on by a external force

 A stationary body will stay still unless a force acts upon it.
 A body moving at a constant velocity will carry on in a straight path, unless a
force acts upon it.
 No force = No change of v = No acceleration.
 The object will not change direction unless acted on by a force.
 If there is zero net force on a body (i.e.no external forces), it cannot accelerate,
and therefore must move at constant velocity, which means
 it cannot turn (i.e. change direction),
 it cannot speed up (accelerate),
 it cannot slow down (decelerate).
Thought experiment

 Imagine a stationary rock deep in space,

where the gravitational field of distant stars
are negligibly small. The rock experiences
no forces and does not move. If the rock
were moving it would continue with
constant velocity until it felt the
gravitational effect of another body in
space.
Newton’s first law states that a body will remain at rest or move with
constant velocity if no resultant force acts on it. What will happen to
the body if a resultant force does act on the body?
 Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion
 Consider the same rock in space. Give the rock a push and its momentum will change. A static rock
will move, or the velocity of a moving rock will increase, decrease or change direction.

 You might have seen Newton’s 2nd law in the form of 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎

 Let's find a link between forced applied to a single body and its momentum.

∆𝑣 𝑚∆𝑣 ∆(𝑚𝑣)
𝑎=
∆𝑡
F= F=
∆𝑡 ∆𝑡

𝑐ℎ𝑎𝑛𝑔𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑢𝑚
resultant force =
𝑡𝑖𝑚𝑒 𝑖𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑣𝑎𝑙
 Newton’s 2nd law of motions can now be defined in terms of changes in momentum and
can be applied to situations where the mass of a body may change, for example, a rocket
burning fuel.

 If the equation for Newton’s 2nd law rearranged, we get 𝐹∆𝑡 = ∆(𝑚𝑣)

 The product 𝐹∆𝑡 is called impulse of the force and has units 𝑁𝑠
 The equation shows that this is equal to the change in momentum of a mass when it is
subjected to a resultant force.
 Example
1. Calculate the impulse needed to increase the velocity of a body of mass 2.5𝑘𝑔 from 3.2𝑚𝑠 −1 to
4.8𝑚𝑠 −1 .

2. Calculate the average resultant force needed to increase the momentum of a cyclist from 400𝑁𝑠 to
600𝑁𝑠 in a time of 20𝑠.
 Example
1. A falling ball of mass 400𝑔 hits the ground travelling at 6.0𝑚𝑠 −1 and bounces up at at 4.0𝑚𝑠 −1.
Calculate the change in momentum of the ball during the impact.

2. A gymnast first touches a trampoline moving downwards at 9.0𝑚𝑠 −1 and leaves it moving upwards
at the same speed. She has a mass of 55k𝑔 and is in contact with the trampoline surface for only
0.75𝑠 during a bounce. What is the average resultant force acting on here during the bounce?
 Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion
F1   F2
 If you push against a wall, you will
feel the wall pushing back on your
hands. m1 (v1  u1 )  m2 (v2  u2 )

 Newton’s 3rd law states “that for t t
every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction”
m1v1  m1u1  m2 v2  m2u2
 When two bodies interact they
exert a force upon each other that
is equal in magnitude and
opposite in direction

 Newton’s 3rd and 2nd laws give us

the Principle of conservation of m1v1  m2 v2  m1u1  m2u2
momentum
 Newton’s 3rd law pairs of forces must always:
 Act on two separate bodies
 Be of the same type
 Act along the same line
 Be equal un magnitude
 Act in opposite directions