CHAPTER 4

NEWTONS LAW

Outline
Forces and Newtons Law
Weight, Tension and Normal Force
Friction: Static and Kinetic
Forces of Friction
Application of Newtons Law

Introduction
In previous chapters, motion is described
in terms of displacement, velocity, and
acceleration without considering what
might cause that motion.
This chapter will look at what causes
changes in motion.
The two main factors to consider are the
forces acting on an object and the mass of
the object.

MASS
Is the measure of amount of matter in an object

INERTIA is a property of an object that

describes how much it will resist
change to the motion of the object.

FORCE

The
Measured
Vector
Changes
2
types:
agency
quantity
contact
the
inof
Newtons
velocity
change
and field
and acceleration

Contact forces
involve physical
contact between
two objects.

Field forces involve nonphysical contact

between two objects but
instead act through
empty space.

Measuring the Strength of a

Force

Newtons First Law

(Law of Inertia)

An object at rest tends to stay at rest

and an object in motion tends to
stay in motion unless acted upon
by an unbalanced force.

Balanced and Unbalanced

Force
Unequal opposing forces
produce an unbalanced force
causing motion

Equal forces in opposite

directions produce no motion

Newtons 1st Law

Unless acted upon by an unbalanced force, this golf

ball would sit on the tee forever.

Once airborne, unless acted on by an unbalanced

force (gravity or air), it would never stop!

Newtons 1st Law

Wonder why we need to

buckle up the seat belt
when we are in a
moving car?

Newtons 1st Law

Law of Inertia

If objects in motion tend to stay in

motion, why dont moving objects
keep moving forever?

Things dont keep moving forever because

theres almost always an unbalanced force
acting upon them.
What is this unbalanced force that acts on
an object in motion?

Newtons Second Law

The acceleration of an object is

directly proportional to the net force
acting on it and inversely
proportional to its mass.

F=
ma

Newtons 2nd Law

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

Newtons 2nd Law

If you want to calculate the acceleration, first you need to modify the
force equation to get a = F/m. When you plug in the numbers for
force (100 N) and mass (50 kg), you find that the acceleration is 2
2

Newtons 2nd Law

Notice that doubling the force by adding another dog doubles the
acceleration. Oppositely, doubling the mass to 100 kg would halve
the acceleration to 2 m/s2.

Newtons Third Law

For every action there is an equal

and opposite reaction.

Newtons 3rd Law

A man with a mass of 50 kg run into a moving

1000kg bus.

Which will have the most force?

The man on the bus or the bus on the man?

Newtons 3rd Law

Newtons 3rd Law

For example, if a lady slaps his
boyfriend for whatever reason, the
ladys hand exerts a force on her
boyfriends face. The force provided
by the lady is called the action force.
But the boyfriends thick face also
exerts the same force on the ladys
hands. The receiving end of the
force, which is equal and opposite in

Newtons 3rd Law

Action reaction force can only exist
when there are two objects
interacting.
In the previous example, we have the
ladys hand and the mans handsome
face as the objects of interaction.
This is equivalent to saying that a
single isolated force cannot exist.

Newtons 3rd Law

Tire pushes on road

Road pushes on tire

Newtons 3rd Law

Action: rocket pushes

on gases

Reaction: gases push

on rocket

When it is not an ActionReaction?

Fg Fg are action
and reaction forces.
n n are action
and reaction forces.
Fg n pair are not
action reaction force
because they act on
the same object, the
TV.

The weight of an
object FW is the
gravitational force
acting downward on
the object.

FW = mg

Force of Gravity and Weight

We are well aware that all objects are
attracted to the Earth.
The attractive force exerted by the
Earth on an object is called the force
of gravity Fg .
This force is directed toward the
center of the Earth, and its
magnitude is called the weight of the
object.

Force of Gravity and Weight (cont.)

A freely falling object experiences an
acceleration g acting toward the centre of
the Earth. Applying Newtons second law:
to a freely falling object of mass m,

Force of Gravity and Weight (cont.)

Because weight = Fg = mg, we can
compare the masses of two objects
by measuring their weights on a
spring scale.
At a given location, the ratio of the
weights of two objects equals the
ratio of their masses

Forces of Friction
When a body is in motion, there is
resistance to the motion because the
body interacts with its surroundings.
We call such resistance a force of
friction.
E.g., movement of fish in the water,
or the flight of bird in the air. The
former faces friction against water
while the latter against air friction.

Forces of Friction (cont.)

Frictional forces is not constant
however.
Let us take an example of someone
pushing a book.
Assume the book was stationary
initially.

Frictional Forces at work

Force applied on a book.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
Force opposing the book from
moving.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
If we apply an external horizontal
force F to the book, acting to the
right, the book remains stationary if
F is not too great.
The force that counteracts F and
keeps the book from moving acts to
the left and is called the frictional
force f.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
Because the book is stationary, we
call this frictional force the force of
static friction fs.
Static friction exist because the
rough edges of 2 objects are rubbing
against each other as shown in the
diagram in page 60.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
If we increase the magnitude of F, as
shown in page 61, the magnitude of
fs increases along with it, keeping the
book in place.
The force fs cannot increase
indefinitely, however.
Eventually the surfaces in contact
can no longer supply sufficient
frictional force to counteract F, and
the book accelerates.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
When the book is on the verge of
moving, fs is at maximum, as shown
in page 61.
When F exceeds fs,max , the book
accelerates to the right.
Once the book is in motion, the
retarding frictional force becomes
less than fs,max.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
When the book is in motion, we call
the retarding force the force of
kinetic friction fk .
Experimentally, we find that, to a
good approximation, both fs,max and fk
are proportional to the normal force
acting on the book.

Frictional Forces at work

(cont.)
Force of static friction fs is given as:
Where s is the coefficient of static
friction.
Force of kinetic friction fk is written
as:

Where k is the coefficient of kinetic

Newtons Third Law

Application of Newtons
Laws
When we apply Newtons laws to an
object, we are interested only in
external forces that act on the
object. (Very important!!)

Application of Newtons
Laws
Identify all forces present for the
object below.

Application of Newtons
Laws
Identify all forces present for the
object below.

Application of Newtons
Laws
Use the symbol T to denote the force
exerted by the rope on the crate. The
magnitude of T is equal to the
tension in the rope.

This diagram is term free-body

diagram. It shows all the force
acting on the object of study.

Application of Newtons Laws (cont.)

We can now apply Newtons second
law in component form to the crate.
The only force acting in the x
direction is T.

Horizontal Force

Vertical Force
Since the block of crate is not
accelerating in the y direction, we
have

Horizontal Movement
We can now find the velocity and
distance travelled by the crate in the
x direction using the following
formulas: