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Law of Motion
Force
A force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's interaction with
another object. Whenever there is an interaction between two objects, there is a
force upon each of the objects. When the interaction ceases, the two objects no
longer experience the force. Forces only exist as a result of an interaction.
Balanced forces do not cause a change in motion. They are equal in size and
opposite in direction.
For an example:- If any one man compete against another one who is just about as
strong as second is , there will probably be a time when both men are pushing as
hard as they can, but both men’s arms stay in the same place. This is an example of
balanced forces. The force exerted by each person is equal, but they are pushing in
opposite directions, in this case together.
Because the force that each man is exerting is equal, the two forces cancel each
other out and the resulting force is zero. Therefore, there is no change in motion.
Unbalanced forces always cause a change in motion. They are not equal and
opposite.
When two unbalanced forces are exerted in opposite directions, their combined force
is equal to the difference between the two forces and is exerted in the direction of
the larger force.
LAW OF MOTION
There are many more applications of Newton's first law of motion. Several
applications are listed below.
• Blood rushes from head to r feet while quickly stopping when riding on a
descending elevator.
• The head of a hammer can be tightened onto the wooden handle by banging
the bottom of the handle against a hard surface.
• A brick is painlessly broken over the hand of a physics teacher by slamming it
with a hammer.
• To dislodge ketchup from the bottom of a ketchup bottle, it is often turned
upside down and thrusted downward at high speeds and then abruptly halted.
• Headrests are placed in cars to prevent whiplash injuries during rear-end
collisions.
• While riding a skateboard (or wagon or bicycle), you fly forward off the board
when hitting a curb or rock or other object which abruptly halts the motion of
the skateboard.
The second law of motion states that the rate of change of momentum of an object is
proportional to the applied unbalanced force in the direction of force.
Suppose an object of mass, m is moving along a straight line with an initial velocity,
u. It is uniformly accelerated to velocity, v in time, t by the application of a constant
force, F throughout the time, t. The initial and final momentum of the object will be,
p1 = mu and p2 = mv respectively.
m × (v − u )
The rate of change of momentum α
t
t
m × (v − u )
Or, the applied force, Fα
t
km × (v − u )
F= = kma
t
(v − u )
Here a [= ] is the acceleration, which is the rate of change of velocity. The
t
quantity, k is a constant of proportionality. The SI units of mass and acceleration are
kg and ms-2 respectively. The unit of force is so chosen that the value of the
constant, k becomes one. For this, one unit of force is defined as the amount that
produces an acceleration of 1 m s-2 in an object of 1 kg mass. That is,
F = ma
The unit of force is kg m s-2 or newton, which has the symbol N. The second law of
motion gives us a method to measure the force acting on an object as a product of
its mass and acceleration.
The first law of motion can be mathematically stated from the mathematical
expression for the second law of motion
F = ma
m × (v − u )
or F=
t
or Ft = mv – mu
That is, when F = 0, v = u for whatever time, t is taken. This means that the object
will continue moving with uniform velocity, u throughout the time, t. If u is zero then
v will also be zero. That is, the object will remain at rest.
Example:-
Solution:
m × (v − u )
F=
t
5kg (7 m /s 3 m /s)
F=
2s
Now, if this force is applied for a duration of 5 s (t = 5 s), then the final
velocity can be calculated by
Ft
v= u+
m
v = 13 m s-1.
Solution:
Solution:
Solution:
Third Law of Motion: - For a force there is always an equal and opposite reaction:
or the forces of two bodies on each other are always equal and are directed in
opposite directions.
For example Let us consider two spring balances connected together. The fixed end
of balance B is attached with a rigid support, like a wall. When a force is applied
through the free end of spring balance A, it is observed that both the spring balances
show the same readings on their scales. It means that the force exerted by spring
balance A on balance B is equal but opposite in direction to the force exerted by the
balance B on balance A. The force which balance A exerts on balance B is called the
action and the force of balance B on balance A is called the reaction. This gives us
an alternative statement of the third law of motion i.e., to every action there is an
equal and opposite reaction.