Activities and Problem Sets

MLS 2E
Prepared by: Dante D. Balsote
Name:
Year and Section:
Force
I. Put the following key words from the box into the appropriate places in the
blanks.
Mass push or pull net force contact force gravity
proportional balanced force acceleration interaction
Force is a ________________ upon an object resulting from the objects ________________
with another object. Whenever there is interaction between two objects, there is a
________________ upon each of the objects. Because of this, except for electromagnetic
phenomena and the force of ________________, the only kind of force capable of interaction is
________________.
If two or more forces act upon an object external to it, and the sum of all those forces is zero,
the forces are said to be ________________. However, if otherwise is true, then there is a
________________. If the sum of all the forces acting on the object is not zero, then there will
be a resulting ________________. While force is always ________________ to acceleration,
acceleration and ________________ are inversely proportional to each other.
II. Newtons Laws of Motion
If forces are balanced, that is, if the sum of all the external forces acting on the object is zero,
then,
i. if the object is at rest, it will remain at rest; or
ii. if the object is in motion (i.e. has an initial velocity), then it will continue in that state
of motion (i.e. will maintain its velocity).
In line with this reasoning
1
, if the forces are unbalanced, that is, the net external force is not
zero, then,
i. the object ________________ will move;
ii. the object in motion will ______________________________;
iii. the object in moving in one direction will retain its speed but ___________________.

1
Newtons first law of motion, the law of inertia, which states that objects will tend to keep doing what they are
doing. This resistance to change is called inertia. Mass is that quantity that is solely dependent on inertia. The
more inertia the object has, or the more resistant it is to change its state of motion, the more mass it possesses.

A group of physics teachers is taking some time off for a little putt-putt golf. There is a large
metal rim that putters must use to guide their ball towards the hole. Mr. S guides a golf ball
around the metal rim. When the ball leaves the rim, which path (1, 2, or 3) will the golf ball
follow? Check the box of your answer.
1 2 3
A 6.0-kg object is moving across a friction-free surface with a constant velocity of 3 m/s.
Which one of the following horizontal forces is necessary to maintain this state of motion?
Encircle the letter of your answer.
a. 0 N b. 0.5 N c. 2.0 N d. 18.0 N

The law of inertia always apply in all cases, no exceptions. Therefore, one must remember the
logical consequence of this reasoning that acceleration is produced by a net external force. This
acceleration is always proportional to the net external force. This is actually Newtons second
law of motion, the law of acceleration, which in equation has the form

which also says that acceleration is ________________ proportional to mass. In the more
familiar form, Newtons second law is

and governs all the behaviors of macroscopic, physical objects in the universe. While we were
used to writing this equation, it is worth noting that the F in the equation is taken to mean the
resultant of all the forces acting on the object. Thus,

and it is also worth remembering that all these forces must be external to the object and that
the resulting acceleration is always in the same direction as the force.

Newtons third law of motion is the law of action-reaction, which states that for every action,
there is an equal and opposite reaction. This is true whenever there is contact between objects
where at least one object exerts a force on the other. An example is when a book is on top of a
table: the book exerts a downward force equal to its weight while the table reacts with a force
________________ in magnitude but ________________ in direction (upwards).
III. Classes of Forces
Contact forces Non-contact forces (action-at-a-distance)
Force of friction = Force of gravity =
Force of air resistance = Magnetic force
Force of tension = Electrical force
Normal force =
Applied force =
Spring force =
Force of gravity
The universal law of gravitation:

where
F is the force between the masses (e.g. the force between the earth and the moon)
G is the gravitational constant approximately equal to 6.67 x 10
-11
.
m
1
is the mass of the first object
m
2
is the mass of the second object
r is the distance between the centers of the two masses
It was known during Newtons time that the force of gravity causes earthbound objects (such
as falling apples
2
) to accelerate towards the earth at a rate of 9.8 m/s
2
. And it was also known
that the moon accelerated towards the earth at a rate of 0.00272 m/s
2
. If the same force that
causes the acceleration of the apple to the earth also causes the acceleration of the moon
towards the earth, then there must be a plausible explanation for why the acceleration of the
moon is so much smaller than the acceleration of the apple. What is it about the force of gravity
that causes the more distant moon to accelerate at a rate of acceleration that is approximately
1/3600-th the acceleration of the apple?
By obtaining the ratio of the earth-bound acceleration of the moon relative to the earth-bound
acceleration of the apple, Newton got

By comparing this ratio with the distance of the center of the moon from the center of the
earth,


2
The apple story about Newton is a myth and has not historical evidence that it actually occurred.
Newton understood that, since the moon is 60 times farther away than the apple, the force of
gravity between the earth and any other object is inversely proportional to each other. In
equation form, this is

where d is the distance separating the objects centers.
Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the
distance between the two objects is doubled, what is the new force of attraction between the
two objects?
Answer: The relationship is inversely proportional. Therefore, if the distance between the two
objects is increased, then that would mean a decrease in the gravitational force between the
two objects. However, a doubling of distance (2 times d) means that the force of gravity must
decrease by two times d squared (2d
2
), which means that the doubling of distance will mean
four times the decrease in the force of gravity.
Suppose we set the distance to 1 unit (for simplicity):

and then double that amount:

then we realize that the force of gravity must now change by a factor of :

Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the
distance between the two objects is tripled, then what is the new force of attraction between
the two objects?







Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the
distance between the two objects is reduced in half, then what is the new force of attraction
between the two objects?







Suppose that two objects attract each other with a gravitational force of 16 units. If the
distance between the two objects is reduced by a factor of 5, then what is the new force of
attraction between the two objects?







Alan learned that objects weigh different amounts at different distances from Earth's center.
So he went to buy gold with the weight measured at one altitude and then selling it at another
altitude at the same price per weight. Should he buy at a high altitude and sell at a low altitude
or is it the other way around?




The force of gravity acting on an object is equal to the mass of the object times the objects
resulting acceleration, where the acceleration is always constant approximately equal to 9.8
m/s
2
. Therefore,
= weight = mg
What is the force acting on a 3.0-kg object?


What is the force acting on a 235.32-kg object?


What is the mass of the object where the force of gravity acting on it is 500 N?


Which has a greater acceleration?
0.2-kg mouse 1000.0-kg elephant they have the same acceleration

Exercises on the force of gravity and the universal law of gravitation.
On a blank, short bond paper, solve for the following problems:
Determine the force of gravitational attraction between the earth (m = 5.98 x 10
24
kg) and a
70-kg student if the student is standing at sea level (a distance of 6.38 x 10
6
m from earth's
center).
Determine the force of gravitational attraction between the earth (m = 5.98 x 10
24
kg) and a
70-kg student if the student is in an airplane at 40000 feet above earth's surface and would
place the student a distance of 6.39 x 10
6
m from earth's center.




On a separate bond paper, solve for the gravitational force between the masses:
m
1
m
2
distance between m
1
and m
2

Basketball Player
100 kg
Earth
5.98 x10
24
kg
6.38 x 10
6
m
(on surface)
MLS Student
50 kg
Earth
5.98 x10
24
kg
6.38 x 10
6
m
(on surface)
MLS Student
75 kg
Earth
5.98 x10
24
kg
6.60 x 10
6
m
(low-height orbit)
MLS Student
60 kg
IT Student
60 kg
1 m
MLS Student
40 kg
MLS Student
80 kg
0.2 m
ND Student
55 kg
Physics Book
1 kg
1 m
MLS Student
75 kg
Moon
7.34 x 10
22
kg
1.71 x 10
6
m
(on surface)
MLS Student
75 kg
Jupiter
1.901 x 10
27
kg
6.98 x 10
7
m
(on surface)

Normal Force
Normal force is the contact force exerted on an object by, for example, the surface of a
floor or wall, preventing the object from penetrating the surface. The normal force is always
perpendicular to the surface (the surface being a plane) of contact.
Consider a 10.0-kg book at rest on top of a table. Is there acceleration? No. Therefore, the net
forces acting on the book must equal to zero. (We will concern ourselves with the y-axis since
that is the casethe forces concerned lie along the y-axis:)


Thus, if we try to break down all the forces acting on the book, we will intuitively come up with

where is equal to mg, equal to 10.0 kg times -9.8 m/s
2
. Thus,

which we know to be intuitively untrue because experience tells us that there should be no net
force because the book has no acceleration. Therefore, there is another force that
counterbalances the force of gravity acting downward, and this force is the normal force:



The normal force is 98 N upwards.
There are cases when the normal force does not equal the force of gravity. For example,

What is the normal force acting on a 10.0-kg object at rest on top of a table, but where there
is a force of application equal to 25 N upwards?





What is the normal force acting on a 1.2-kg book at rest on top of a table, but where there is
a force of application equal to 1.5 N upwards?






There are also cases when the object is on top of an inclined plane. In this case, the normal
force, as mentioned, will be perpendicular to the surface of the inclined plane:




If that is the case, then the free-body diagram of the object will be




In this case, F
norm
= F
y, grav
. However, suppose there is an upward applied force perpendicular to
the inclined plane,

what will be the formula for the normal force given F
grav
and F
app
?


Now, suppose there is an upward applied force (opposing the force of gravity, but not
perpendicular to the inclined plane), what is the formula for the normal force given F
grav
and
F
app
?






F
norm

F
y, grav

F
x, grav

Force of Friction
Friction is the force exerted by a surface as an object moves across it or makes an effort to
move across it. Friction always resists motion, which means it is always opposite of motion.
The force of friction is proportional to the coefficient of friction (which depends on the type and
nature of the materials in contact) and the normal force. In equation form that is

where is the coefficient of friction and N is the normal force.
The force of friction can be differentiated into two: the static friction and the
kinetic/sliding/dynamic friction.
________________ friction results when the surfaces of two objects are at rest relative to one
another and a force exists on one of the objects to set it into motion relative to the other
object. Suppose you were to push with 5-Newton of force a large box in order to move it across
the floor. The box might remain in place. A static friction force exists between the surfaces of
the floor and the box to prevent the box from being set into motion. The static friction force
balances the force that you exert on the box such that the stationary box remains at rest.
Then there is maximum static friction:
Suppose that you pushed a large box with 5-N of force and the box remains in place. The force
of application is then equal to 5 N; if the box does not move, then the force of friction is also 5
N since there is no acceleration. Then, you increased it to 10 N, but it still wont move; then the
force of static friction is now 10 N, counteracting against your force of application since there is
no acceleration. Then you pushed with 25 N of force on the large box and still it remained in
place. Static friction now has a magnitude of 25 N. Then suppose that you increased the force a
little higher than 25 N and the box finally budged from its resting position (i.e. it begins to
move). The box-floor surfaces were able to provide up to 25 Newton of static friction force to
match your applied force to keep it in place, yet only a little higher than 25 N and the box
begins to move. Then it means that the box and the floor together have a maximum force of
static friction equal to 25 N. The amount of static friction resulting from the adhesion of any two
surfaces has an upper limitthis is what we call the maximum static friction. In this case, the
static friction force spans the range from 0 Newton (if there is no force upon the box) to 25
Newton (if you push on the box with 25 Newton of force). This relationship is often expressed
as follows:

or, in a more economical form,


________________ friction results when an object slides or moves across a surface. As an
example, consider pushing a box across a floor. The floor surface offers resistance to the
movement of the box. We often say that the floor exerts a friction force upon the box. This is
an example of a sliding or kinetic friction since it results from the sliding motion of the box. If a
car slams on its brakes while moving, there is a sliding friction force exerted upon the car tires
by the roadway surface. This friction force is also a kinetic friction force because the car is
sliding across the road surface. Kinetic friction forces can be calculated from knowledge of the
coefficient of friction and the normal force exerted upon the object by the surface it is sliding
across. In equation form this
3
is

or, in a more economical form,

One must keep in mind that kinetic friction is either equal to or lesser than static friction
because to keep the object moving once it began to move needs a force lesser than what is
needed to move it. As in the above example, a little higher than 25 N is needed to budge the
box from its place. But once the box starts to move, 25 N or less than 25 N is needed to keep
the box in constant speed.

A 0.1-kg book is at rest on top of a table. The coefficient of friction is 0.2. What is the
maximum static friction?









3
You may also use sliding as your subscript.
After moving, the same book will of course have a different coefficient of friction (it is now
kinetic friction). If the book gained a speed of 1.804 m/s within 0.2 seconds,
find the net external force; then
find the coefficient of kinetic friction if the applied force to move the book is 1 N.






















How much force is needed to keep a 1200-kg car moving at constant velocity on a level
concrete road? Assume that the car is moving too slowly for air resistance to be important and
use .










A force of 200 N is just sufficient to start a 50-kg steel trunk moving across a wooden floor.
Find the coefficient of static friction.












A 40-kg wooden crate is being pushed across a wooden floor with a force of 160 N. If
, find the acceleration of the crate.






A bowling ball with an initial velocity of 3 m/s rolls along a level floor for 50 m before coming
to a stop. What is the coefficient of rolling friction?






The coefficient of kinetic friction between a rubber tire and a wet concrete road is 0.5. (a)
Find the minimum time in which a car whose initial velocity is 50 km/hr can come to a stop on
such a road. (b) What distance will the car cover in this time?








Force of Tension
Tension is the pulling force exerted on both ends of a string, rope, cable, or wire, or similar
objects.
To understand tension, one must first ask whether the system in question is in equilibriumi.e.
the net force is zero, which means, the first thing to ask is, is there acceleration?
Consider for example a 1.0-kg object suspended in the air by a string.











Is there acceleration? No. Therefore, all the forces must add up to zero:


And using this fact, we can calculate for the force of tension:




F
tens

F
grav



There are cases when the string or rope is not vertical:





In this case, the force of tension must be resolved into their x- and y-components:





Thus, the free-body diagram of this object becomes:






After which applying the law of trigonometric functions will do the trick for you.
Then there is also an additional tension if there is acceleration, which means there is a net
external force. Take for example the same object as illustrated above.


F
grav

F
y2, tens
F
y1, tens

F
x1, tens
F
x2, tens






Suppose, instead of the ceiling, you are grabbing the string by your hands and pulled the object
upwards. Is there acceleration? Yes. Therefore, there is a net force. Suppose the object gained
a speed of 10 m/s in 10 seconds (which amounts to an acceleration of = 1 m/s
2
). Then that
would mean an additional tension on the string proportional to that acceleration:




And the total tension of the string would be defined by:

or


A 1200-kg elevator supported by a cable in which the maximum safe tension is 14,000 N. (a)
What is the greatest upward acceleration? (b) The greatest downward acceleration?







F
grav
= m
object *
g
F
tens
= m
object *
a
upwards


Calculate the tension (the x- and y-components) on the strings, where the angles formed, as
shown, are both 50 degrees (the mass of the object is 10 kg):

























T
2


T
1



As shown above, suppose that string one is attached to the wall and string two to the ceiling.
The object is in static equilibrium (no net force, zero acceleration), or in other words, at rest.
Calculate for T
1
and T
2
(x- and y-components) given that the angle formed, as shown, is 55
degrees and the mass of the object is 10.0 kg.

















BONUS QUESTIONS:
A 2-kg block A and a 3-kg block B are in contact on a frictionless table. A horizontal force of
10 N is applied to A.
The acceleration of the blocks is the same. What is their acceleration?
How much force acting on B?
Find the force with which B resists the force of A on it.





















Now, reverse the masses. A 3-kg block A and a 2-kg block B are in contact on a frictionless
table. A horizontal force of 10 N is applied to A.
The acceleration of the blocks is the same. What is their acceleration?
How much force acting on B?
Find the force with which B resists the force of A on it.






















Now, consider friction. A 2-kg block A and a 3-kg block B are in contact on a table. A
horizontal force of 10 N is applied to A. The coefficient of static friction of both blocks is 0.02.
Find the maximum static friction for each block.
The acceleration of the blocks is the same. What is their acceleration?
How much force acting on B?
Find the force with which B resists the force of A on it.





















An 80-kg woman stands on a weighing scale in an elevator. When it starts to move, the scale
reads 700 N. (a) Is the elevator moving upward or downward? (b) Is the elevators velocity
constant? (c) If so, what is the elevators velocity? If not, what is its acceleration?