General Physics 1

Newton’s Laws of Motion and Applications

Force and Motion
 Force causes a stationary body to move.
 Force causes a moving body to stop.
 Force changes the direction of a moving body.
 Force causes deformation of a body.

A force does not always cause motion.

Example:
• A gravitational force acts on your body and yet you remain
stationary.
• You can push on a large boulder and not be able to move it.

But only a force can cause a change in velocity, we can think of

force as that which causes an object to accelerate.
Force and Motion
What happens when several forces act simultaneously on an object?

If the net force exerted on an object is zero, the acceleration of the

object is zero and its velocity remains constant.
The net force acting on an object is defined as the vector sum of all
forces acting on the object. We sometimes refer to the net force as
the total force, the resultant force, or the unbalanced force.

When the velocity of an object is constant (including when the

object is at rest), the object is said to be in equilibrium.
Contact and Field Forces
Contact forces involve physical
contact between two interacting
objects.
Field forces do not involve
physical contact between two
objects but instead act through
empty space.
Normal force
The normal force is exerted on an
object by any surface with which it is
in contact. The adjective normal
means that the force always acts
perpendicular to the surface of
contact, no matter what the angle of
that surface.
Normal force
Friction force
By contrast, the friction force exerted on an object by a
surface acts parallel to the surface, in the direction that
opposes sliding.
Tension force
The pulling force exerted by a stretched rope or cord on
an object to which it’s attached is called a tension force.
When you tug on your dog’s leash, the force that pulls
on her collar is a tension force.
Fundamental Forces in Nature

Gravitational Force

Electromagnetic Force
Electroweak Theory of
Grand Everything
Weak Nuclear Force Force
Unified
Theory
Strong Nuclear Force
Laws of Motion
The laws of motion are useful ways of
thinking about the motion of everyday
objects. Though considered as a
scientific law, it still has limitations.

The laws of motion are valid when the

objects we are analyzing are not
travelling at the speed of light nor the
object is too small.

Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 published his book entitled Philosophiae

Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of
Natural Philosophy) which contains his treatise on motion and the
three laws of motion
Newton’s First Law and Inertial Frames

Newton’s First Law (Law of Inertia)

If an object does not interact with other objects, it is possible to
identify a reference frame in which the object has zero acceleration.

Such a reference frame is called an inertial frame of reference.

Any reference frame that moves with constant velocity relative to an

inertial frame is itself an inertial frame.
Newton’s First Law and Inertial Frames

Newton’s First Law (Law of Inertia)

In the absence of external forces, when viewed from an inertial
reference frame, an object at rest remains at rest and an object in
motion continues in motion with a constant velocity (that is, with a
constant speed in a straight line).

We can say that when no force acts on an object, the acceleration of

the object is zero. If nothing acts to change the object’s motion, then
its velocity does not change. From the first law, we conclude that any
isolated object (one that does not interact with its environment) is
either at rest or moving with constant velocity.

The tendency of an object to resist any attempt to change its velocity

is called inertia.
Newton’s First Law and Inertial Frames

An object’s inertia depends on its mass. Mass is the amount of

matter in an object. It is an inherent property of an object and is
independent of the object’s surroundings.

Mass should not be confused with weight. Mass and weight are two
different quantities. The weight of an object is equal to the
magnitude of the gravitational force exerted on the object and varies
with location.

It is a quantity that only depends on the inertia of an object. This

implies that heavier objects are harder to move or when it is already
moving, it is hard to stop. Simply put, the greater the mass, the
greater the amount of inertia.
Newton’s First Law and Inertial Frames

An object’s inertia depends on its mass. Mass is the amount of

matter in an object. It is an inherent property of an object and is
independent of the object’s surroundings.

Mass should not be confused with weight. Mass and weight are two
different quantities. The weight of an object is equal to the
magnitude of the gravitational force exerted on the object and varies
with location.

It is a quantity that only depends on the inertia of an object. This

implies that heavier objects are harder to move or when it is already
moving, it is hard to stop. Simply put, the greater the mass, the
greater the amount of inertia.
Seatbelt and
Spinning Egg Inertia Trick
Headrest
Newton’s Second Law

Newton’s first law explains what happens to an object when no

forces act on it. Newton’s second law answers the question of what
happens to an object that has a nonzero resultant force acting on it.

What happens to the motion of an object when the net force acting
on it is doubled? When the mass f the object is doubled?
Newton’s Second Law

Newton’s Second Law (Law of Acceleration)

When viewed from an inertial reference frame, the acceleration of an
object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and
inversely proportional to its mass.
Newton’s Second Law

The SI unit of force is the Newton, which is defined as the force that,
when acting on an object of mass 1 kg, produces an acceleration of 1
m/s2. From this definition and Newton’s second law, we see that the
newton can be expressed in terms of the following fundamental
units of mass, length, and time:
Newton’s Third Law

Newton’s Third Law (Law of Interaction)

If two objects interact, the force F12 exerted by object 1 on object 2 is
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force F21 exerted
by object 2 on object 1.

The two forces in an

action–reaction pair
always act on two
different objects.

Forces always occur in pairs, or that a single isolated force cannot

exist. The force that object 1 exerts on object 2 may be called the
action force and the force of object 2 on object 1 the reaction force.
In reality, either force can be labeled the action or reaction force.
 Classify the following situations/examples/descriptions about the
laws of motion.

A. LAW OF ACCELERATION
B. LAW OF INERTIA
C. LAW OF INTERACTION

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Free-Body Diagram

When analyzing an object subject to forces, we

are interested in the net force acting on one
object, which we will model as a particle.

Thus, a free-body diagram helps us to isolate

only those forces on the object and eliminate the
other forces from our analysis.

The free-body diagram can be simplified further

by representing the object (such as the monitor)
as a particle, by simply drawing a dot.
Applications of Newton’s Laws

Objects in Equilibrium

𝐹 𝑛𝑒𝑡 =0 𝐹 𝑥 =0 𝐹 𝑦 =0

Objects Experiencing a Net Force

𝐹 𝑛𝑒𝑡 ≠ 0 𝐹 𝑛𝑒𝑡 =𝑚𝑎

Applications of Newton’s Laws

1. What is the normal force exerted by the flat floor in supporting

the table with a mass of 11 kg?
2. A 1.5 kg hanging plant is supported by two ropes, one rope is
horizontal and the other makes an angle of 60o with the
horizontal. What is the tension present on each rope?
3. A 400 kg boulder is resting on the side of a hill with a slope of 35o
along the horizontal. What is the magnitude of the forces acting
on the boulder? What is the coefficient of static friction present?
4. In a construction area, a 50-kg steel beam is hung using two
cables. One cable is pulling the steel beam diagonally upward to
the right forming an angle of 70o with the horizontal. And the
other cable is pulling the steel beam diagonally downward to the
left forming an angle of 20o with the horizontal. What is the
weight of the steel beam? What is the tension on each cable?