Newton’ s Laws

Chapter 4

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
 Force

• Contact Force – everyday forces, used to

move objects.
• Action-at-a-distance Force – a force that
is exerted on another object without
contact.
• Combination of several forces acting on a
single object (principle of superposition),
known as the vector sum of all the forces =
NET FORCE

-forces have magnitude and direction

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

 4 Fundamental Forces in Nature
Gravitational Force Electromagnetic Force

Weak Nuclear Force Strong Nuclear Force

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 Contact Forces
• Normal force (FN) – support force from
contact with a surface
• Frictional force (f) – forces that opposes
the tendency to slide across a surface

• Spring Forces (Fs) – force a spring

exerted when stretched or compressed.
• Strings (T) – Strings will exert a tension
force against the applied force
• Applied force (F) – Any force applied by
someone or something that does not fall
into the category above.

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
 Weight vs Mass
• Weight and mass are NOT Equal

• Gravitational force (Fg) – force caused

by the acceleration due to gravity.
(Weight is the magnitude of this force,
the sign will indicate the direction of
the Fg

• All objects in Earth’ s gravitational

field experience the same acceleration.
Field is always directed towards the
center of the Earth.

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

Mass = amount of matter in an object, a measure of an objects
inertia (units: kg)

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

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Net Force

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 Free Body Diagrams

• A drawing of all the forces acting on

an object, free from its
surroundings.
• Draw the object, draw the force
vectors (magnitude and direction),
label all drawn forces, combine all
forces in the same plane (x, y, or z)
to determine the net force

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
 Inertia

• Newton’ s First Law: Objects at

rest/motion will remain at
rest/motion, unless an outside net
force acts on it.
• Inertial Frame of Reference: a frame
of reference in which the laws of
motion are held true (constant
velocity)

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
 Forces and
Acceleration
• Force - a push or pull on an
object.
• when you push on something with a
NET force, its velocity will
change (accelerate)

• Force Law 1: Fconst = aconst (always

in the same direction)
• small force = small accel
• LARGE FORCE = LARGE ACCEL

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

 Newton’ s 2nd Law

• Acceleration of an object is directly

proportional to the net force, and
inversely proportional to the mass of
the object.

• a = F / m

• Units: 1 Newton = 1 kg x 1 m/s2

1 pound = 1 slug x 1
ft/s2

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
• Apparent Weight = magnitude of the
gravitational force as read by a
scale (spring)
• Weightlessness = when apparent weight
equals zero (free falling)

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
Since forces can act in 3-dimensions,
the object can accelerate in 3-
dimensions. Just keep your vector
components separate and solve for
each.

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

Inclined Plane:

Objects on an
inclined plane must
be treated with a
tilted x-y plane.

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
 Newton’ s 3 Law rd

Challenge
• Trial 1: Person 1 = do not pull,
Person 2 = pull to 15 N
• What does each scale read?

• Trial 2: Person 1 = pull to 10 N,

Person 2 = do not pull
• What does each scale read?

• Trial 3: Person 1 = pull to 8 N,

Person 2 = pull to 14 N

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

 Newton’ s 3rd Law

• For every force, there is an equal

and opposite force.
• FBA = - FAB

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 Action – Reaction
Forces
• Walk out of the room

• Swim forward

• Rocket propelled into the air, or

through space
• Tire on the road

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
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Batman Begins

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©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
Superhero:

Acceleration due to gravity

of Planet Krypton

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company

©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company
©2008 by W.H. Freeman and Company