NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION

- SUTHERLAND HIGH SCHOOL-

- GRADE 11 -
 A QUICK SUMMARY OF NEWTONS LAWS

NEWTONS NEWTONS NEWTONS NEWTONS LAW

FIRST LAW OF SECOND LAW THIRD LAW OF OF UNIVERSAL
MOTION OF MOTION MOTION GRAVITATION
An object will continue If you push or pull an If you exert a force on a There is always a force
doing what it was object in a certain box, the box will exert of gravity between any
originally doing, unless direction, it will move an equal and opposite two objects that have
you do something in that very direction. force on you. mass.
about it.

01 02 03 04
 NEWTONS’S FIRST LAW OF MOTION
Because of inertia
objects tend to
remain at rest or
continue at uniform
velocity.
An object will stay
at rest or continue to
move at a constant Inertia is the
velocity, unless resistance of an
This law is also object to a change in
acted upon by an known as the law of
external force. its state of motion or
inertia. rest.
 INERTIA
• The mass of an object is a measure of it’s inertia.
• The larger the object, the more difficult it is to move it from rest. No wonder a large truck
causes so much damage when its brakes fail.
• It is not necessary to have a net force on an object to ensure that it moves continuously at a
constant speed in a straight line. Instead it is rather a net force that is needed to stop a moving
object!
• Inertia of a resting object makes it difficult to get it moving, and the inertia of a moving object
makes it difficult to change its velocity in either magnitude or direction.
Examples of INERTIA
YOUR TURN…

EXERCISE 5
Pg. 63-64
 NEWTONS’S SECOND LAW OF MOTION
Gr. 10 revision
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity of an object.

In Newton’s first law: acceleration is 0 because the object moves at a

constant velocity or doesn’t move at all. There is no external force that
causes it to accelerate in a direction.

Newton’s second law is where we now introduce and consider this net
force that will cause an object to accelerate…
 NEWTONS’S SECOND LAW OF MOTION

𝐹 𝑛𝑒𝑡 =𝑚𝑎

• If a net force acts on an object, the object will accelerate in the

direction of the net force.
• The acceleration is directly proportional to the net force and inversely
proportional to the mass of the object.
TB. pg 70
 𝐹 𝑛𝑒𝑡 =𝑚𝑎

• One newton is the force that accelerates a mass of at in the direction of the force.

• Since we are now working with forces in 2 dimensions, we need to consider the net force
separately in the x and y dimension.
• If an object accelerates horizontally, then the resultant force is calculated by finding the vector
sum of all the forces in the x dimension.
• If an object accelerates vertically, then the resultant force is calculated by finding the vector
sum of all the forces in the y dimension.
TB. pg 70
 Let’s clarify… In which direction is
this object moving?

If an object accelerates horizontally, then the resultant force is calculated by

finding the vector sum of all the forces in the x dimension.

𝐹𝑁 Use Newton’s 2d law of motion to

What forces act in the
What actual situation
could this force
𝐹1 calculate the net force on the
horizontal direction?
object.
diagram be
representing? 𝐹2 Horizontally
What forces
: act in the .
Label the forces in the
vertical direction?
diagram.
𝐹𝐺 Vertically : .
 Let’s clarify… In which direction is
this object moving?

If an object accelerates horizontally, then the resultant force is calculated by

finding the vector sum of all the forces in the x dimension.

𝐹𝑁 Use Newton’s 2d law of motion to

What actual situation 𝐹2 What forces act in the
calculate the net force on the
could this force 𝐹1 horizontal direction?
object.
diagram be
representing?
Label the forces in the Horizontally
What forces
: act in the .
vertical direction?
diagram.
𝐹𝐺 Vertically : .
 Let’s clarify… In which direction is
this object moving?

• If an object accelerates vertically, then the resultant force is calculated by

finding the vector sum of all the forces in the y dimension.

Use Newton’s 2d law of motion to

What actual situation
could this force
𝑇 What forces act in the
calculate the net force on the
horizontal direction?
object.
diagram be
representing?
Label the forces in the Horizontally
What forces
: act in the .

diagram. 𝐹𝐺 vertical direction?

Vertically : .
 Let’s clarify… In which direction is
this object moving?

• If an object accelerates vertically, then the resultant force is calculated by

finding the vector sum of all the forces in the y dimension.

Use Newton’s 2d law of motion to

What actual situation
could this force
𝑇 What forces act in the
calculate the net force on the
horizontal direction?
object.
diagram be
representing?
Label the forces in the Horizontally
What forces
: act in the .

diagram. 𝐹𝐺 vertical direction?

Vertically : .
 Let’s clarify… In which direction is
this object moving?
• If an object accelerates horizontally, then the resultant force is calculated by finding the vector sum of all the
forces in the x dimension.
• If an object accelerates vertically, then the resultant force is calculated by finding the vector sum of all the
forces in the y dimension.
Use Newton’s 2d law of motion to
What actual situation 𝐹𝑁 What forces act in the
calculate the net force on the

𝐹
could this force horizontal direction?
object.
diagram be
representing? 𝐹𝑘
Label the forces in the Horizontally
What forces
: act in the .

diagram. 𝐹𝐺 vertical direction?

Vertically : .
 Let’s clarify… In which direction is
this object moving?
• If an object accelerates horizontally, then the resultant force is calculated by finding the vector sum of all the
forces in the x dimension.
• If an object accelerates vertically, then the resultant force is calculated by finding the vector sum of all the
forces in the y dimension.
Use Newton’s 2d law of motion to
What actual situation 𝐹𝑁 What forces act in the

𝐹
calculate the net force on the
could this force horizontal direction?
object.
diagram be
representing? 𝐹𝑘
Label the forces in the 𝐹𝐺 Horizontally
What forces
: act in the .

diagram. vertical direction?

Vertically : .
Examples - worksheet
YOUR TURN…

EXERCISE 6
Pg. 81-87
 NEWTONS’S THIRD LAW OF MOTION

• If object A exerts a force on object B, object B exerts an equal but

opposite force on object A.
𝐹 𝐴 𝑜𝑛 𝐵 =− 𝐹 𝐵 𝑜𝑛 𝐴

• You are all sitting on your chairs.

• You exert and force on the chair and the chair exerts a force on you.
• The forces are equal in magnitude. (How do you know this?).
• The forces act in the opposite direction but in the same line.
• The forces are the same type (contact forces / magnetic / friction etc.).
• The forces act simultaneously on two objects. (you and the chair).
𝐹 𝐴 𝑜𝑛 𝐵 =− 𝐹 𝐵 𝑜𝑛 𝐴

• A man stands on a scale in a lift. The 4 third law force pairs are:
• The force of the scale on the floor and the force of the floor on the scale.
• The force of the man on the scale and the force of the scale on the man.
• The force of the cable on the lift and the force of the lift on the cable.
• The force of the earth on the lift and the force of the lift on the earth.
YOUR TURN…

EXERCISE 7
Pg. 91-92
NEWTON’S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION

WHY DO OBJECTS FALL TO

THE GROUND?

Legend has it that a young Isaac Newton was sitting under an apple tree when he
was bonked on the head by a falling piece of fruit, a 17th-century “aha moment”
that prompted him to suddenly come up with his law of gravity. In reality, things
didn’t go down quite like that. Newton, the son of a farmer, was born in 1642 near
Grantham, England, and entered Cambridge University in 1661. Four years later,
following an outbreak of the bubonic plague, the school temporarily closed, forcing
Newton to move back to his childhood home, Woolsthorpe Manor. It was during
this period at Woolsthorpe (Newton returned to Cambridge in 1667) that he was in
the orchard there and witnessed an apple drop from a tree. There’s no evidence to
suggest the fruit actually landed on his head, but Newton’s observation caused him
to ponder why apples always fall straight to the ground (rather than sideways or
upward) and helped inspired him to eventually develop his law of universal
gravitation. In 1687, Newton first published this principle, which states that every
body in the universe is attracted to every other body with a force that is directly
proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the
square of the distance between them, in his landmark work the “Principia,” which
also features his three laws of motion.
 NEWTON’S LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION
𝑚1 𝑚 2
𝐹 =𝐺 2
𝑟
SOUNDS LIKE?

A force of gravitational acceleration exists between any two objects in

the universe that have mass. This force of attraction is directly
proportional to the product of the masses of the objects and inversely
proportional to the squared distance between their centers of gravity.
 Gravitational Universal gravitational constant
Mass of objects
attractive force

𝑚1 𝑚
𝐹 = 𝐺 2
2
Distance between centres
𝑟

The force that object A exerts on object B is exactly the same as the
𝐹 ∝𝑚 𝑚 force that object B exerts on object A but in the opposite direction,
1 EVEN2 IF the masses are different.
Greater mass – greater force of attraction and vice versa .
1
𝐹 ∝ 2
𝑟
Greater distance between objects – smaller force of attraction and vice versa.
 You have 6 seconds to answer each question…

using:
The force of attraction of one object on another is F. What will the
force be if

a. One mass is doubled?

b. Both masses are doubled?
c. The distance between their centres are doubled?
d. Both masses are doubled and distance between centres are halved?
You have 60 seconds to answer this question

using:

Derive the unit of the constant G in the above equation.

 The difference between mass and weight.
MASS WEIGHT
DEFINITIO The amount of The force with which the earth or
N matter and is the another planet attracts an object. This
same everywhere. differs from place to place.
Depends on the mass and the radius of
the planet.

SCALAR / Scalar Vector

VECTOR

FORMULA

UNIT Kilogram (kg) Newton (N)

 Weightlessness

• Weight is the product of mass and gravitational acceleration. W=mg

• The feeling of weight is indirectly caused by the gravitational force but is one only feels it
because of the other forces resisting the gravitational force. Without these objects, you
won’t “feel” the gravity that is present – even though it is still there. You will feel
“weightless”.
• Example – you can feel that something is pulling down because you are able to sit on your
chair and stay there. If the chair suddenly disappears, you will feel “weightless” for a
moment before you hit the ground.
 Weightlessness

• When is weightlessness experienced?

• Free-fall in a lift or vacuum.
• Free-fall in a plane or spacecraft.
• Objects far away from stars or planets.
 Relationship between g and G
• In physics, there are 3 kinds of fields that exert non-contact forces:
• Gravitational fields
• Electric fields
• Magnetic fields

• G is the a constant value that represents the relationship between the mass of objects and
• Weight,
A gravitational
is the gravitational
field exists around
attractive
theforce
earthbetween
and around
a planet
any object
and anwith
object.
mass.
the forces that exist between them.
• On
Gravitational
the surfaceacceleration
of the earth,(g)
gravitational
decreases asacceleration
the distanceisfrom
On another
the earthplanet,
increases.
this value
• G is constant throughout the Universe. That’s why it’s called “universal.”
varies.
• Some astronomers believe that if the universe is expanding as the popular Big Bang theory
suggests, the value of G is slowly decreasing.
 Proving that gravitational acceleration is the
same everywhere on a planet and is independent
of mass…
2 objects: One is a planet (M) and the other is a person (m).
weight
The attractive force that pulls them down is called .

M and
YOUR TURN…

EXERCISE 8
Pg. 102-104