Chapter 2 Units and

Example Problems

Newton’s Laws
LOs 2 and 3
Force
 Force is a push or pull on a body.
 It usually causes:
 a distortion in the body,
 a change in the body’s velocity, or both.
 Force is the agent for a change in motion.
 Force is vector quantity represented by F and
the magnitude is a scalar represented by F.
 Force can be positive (when acceleration is
positive) or negative (when acceleration is
negative)
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Force, cont’d
 The units of force include:
 SI: newton (N), dyne or
metric ton (2000 N)
 English: pound (lb), ounce (oz) or
ton (2000 lb).
 To convert between SI and English:

1 N  0 .2 2 5 lb o r 1 lb  4 .4 5 N

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Weight
 Weight is a force; the force of gravity acting on the
mass of a body (mass is a property of an object). We
typically use W = mg.

MASS IS NOT WEIGHT!

Mass is weight divided by gravity; m=W/g
 Your weight depends on which planet you are on. A
200 lb person on Earth weighs about 33 lb on the Moon.

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g moon  g earth
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Newton’s 2nd law of motion, cont’d
 The SI unit of force is the newton (do not
use kg m/s2) and is defined according to
Newton’s 2nd law:

 
F  ma
 m kg m
1 N  1 kg   1 2   1 2
 s  s
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Newton’s 2nd law of motion, cont’d
 A falling object accelerates due to the Earth’s
gravity at

a  g  9.8 m /s 2

 So the force the object feels from Earth, i.e.,

its weight, is:

F  ma  W  mg
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 Example – A Two Step Process

An aircraft manufacturer builds a plane that can accelerate uniformly

from 0 to 100 knots in 10 s. The plane’s weight is 11,760 N. What
is the force required to accelerate the plane from 0 to 100 knots?
Step 1:
(a) Convert the final velocity to m/s by using conversion factors:

(b) Given the weight, derive

100 knots the mass
= 100 of the
x 0.515 m/saircraft:
= 51.5 m/s

m
11760kg 2
W s  1200kg
m 
g m
9.8 2 7
s
Example – Step Two of the Process

Step one gives us: v1  0

m
; v2  51.5
m
s s
t 2  10 s; t1  0 s
m  1200 kg

Calculate the a  v 2  v1  51.5 m / s  0 m / s  5.15

m
t 2  t1 10 s  0 s s2
acceleration:
Use Newton’s Law: F = ma
m m
F  ma  1200 kg  5.15 2  6,180 kg 2
s s
The magnitude of the force is: F  6,180 N
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Example of Negative Force in Two
Steps
An aircraft can decelerate uniformly from 100 to
0 knots in 30 s. The plane’s weight is 11,760
N. What is the force required to decelerate
the plane from 100 to 0 knots?
Step 1: We need the velocity in m/s and the
mass in kg.
100 knots = 100 x 0.515 m/s = 51.5 m/s
m
11760kg 2
W s  1200kg
m 
g m
9.8 2
s
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Example

Step 2: m m
v1  51.5 ; v2  0
s s
From Step 1:  t  30 s & m  1200 kg

v 2  v1 0 m / s  51.5 m / s m
a    1.717 2
Acceleration: t 2  t1 30 s  0 s s

Calculate the magnitude of the force:

m
F  ma  1200 kg   ( 1.717 2 )
s
F  2, 060.4 N you have a negative force
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Example

If a 1,200 kilogram car is going 12 m/s around a

curve with a radius of 25 meters, what
is the centripetal
force that acts
on it?

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Example

ANSWER: v  12 m/s
The problem gives us: r  25 m
m  1200 kg
The force is:
2
v
F  ma  m
r
12 m/s 
2

 1200 kg   6, 912 N
25 m 12
Example

DISCUSSION: What causes this force?

 It is the friction between the tire’s and the
road. Friction is a force that acts to slow
objects down.
 If the road is too slick, the road could not
generate this force and you slide into the
ditch.
 If the max force that will keep the car on the
curve is 19,421N, what is the max speed for
the car on the curve?
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 Example

ANSWER: F  19, 421N

The problem gives us:
r  25 m
m  1200 kg
v2
Fr
 v2  v F  m ; to solve for v, multiply by r
m
r
What is the velocity? 2 r
Fr  mv  mv 2 ; then divide by m
r
Fr 2 m
v  v 2 ; take the square root of both sides
m m
Note: this solution also applies to objects in orbit. 14
 Example: we solved for v v
Fr
m

ANSWER: Given that F = 19,421 N = 19,421 kg m/s2

m
19,421kg 2 •25m
v= s
1200kg

m2
485,525kg 2 2
s = 404.604 m
1200kg s2

m2 m2 m
= 404.604 2  404.604 2
 20.115
s s s 15
Example

A space probe is launched from the Earth,

headed for deep space. At a distance of
10,000 miles from the Earth’s center, the
gravitational force on it is 600 lb. What is the
size of the force when it is 20,000 miles from
the Earth’s center?

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Example

ANSWER: d1  10, 000 mi

The problem gives us: F1  600 lb
d 2  20, 000 mi

The force is:

GMm
F 2
d

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Example

ANSWER:
From the given info, we know:
GMm GMm
F1  2
and F2  2
d1 d2
We can write these equations as
F1 d 1  G M m and F 2 d 2  G M m
2 2

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Example

ANSWER:
So we have,
F1 d 1  F2 d 2
2 2

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Example

ANSWER:
The requested force is
d12
F2  F1 2
d2
10, 000 mi 
2
1
  600 lb    600 lb  
 20, 000 mi 
2
4
 150 lb
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Example

DISCUSSION:
We could solve for the mass from the first
force and distance.
We’d have to convert a lot.
But this approach is less work and gives us
some insight into the nature of the
gravitational force.

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Summary

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