DEPARTMENT OF PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL SCIENCES

General Physics for Life Sciences I (BSB114)

Laws of motion

Thato Pholele
Block 108B: Office Number 11

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3. THE LAWS OF MOTION

• contact forces- involve physical contact between two objects.

• Another class of forces, known as field forces, does not involve physical
contact between two objects. e.g gravitational force, electric force and
magnetic force.
• Effect of force on body: change of motion or deformation.

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3 THE LAWS OF MOTION
The Vector Nature of Force
• It is possible to use the deformation of a spring to measure force.
• The spring elongates when the force is applied, and a pointer on the scale reads the
extension of the spring.
• We can calibrate the spring by defining a reference force F1 as the force that
produces a pointer reading of 1.00 cm.
• When forces act along the same direction, the resultant force is their algebraic sum.
• For forces acting at right angle, the resultant is
F = F1 + F2 = 2.24units
2 2

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3.1 Newton’s First Law

Newton’s first law of motion:

In the absence of external forces, an object at rest remains at rest and an object in
motion continues in motion with a constant velocity (that is, with a constant speed in a
straight line).
• In other words, when no force acts on an object, the acceleration of the object is
zero.
• The tendency of an object to resist any attempt to change its velocity is called
inertia.
• An object that is accelerating must be experiencing a force.
• force is that which causes a change in motion of an object.

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3.2 Mass and acceleration

Mass is that property of an object that specifies how much resistance an object
exhibits to changes in its velocity, the SI unit of mass is the kilogram.
Mass is an inherent property of an object and is independent of the object’s
surroundings and of the method used to measure it.

• Experiments show that the greater the mass of an object, the less that object
accelerates under the action of a given applied force.
• The ratio of the two masses is defined as the inverse ratio of the magnitudes of the
accelerations produced by the force:

m1 a2
= (1)
m2 a1

• acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to its mass when acted on by a

given force.
• Also, mass is a scalar quantity and thus obeys the rules of ordinary arithmetic.

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3.3 Newton’s Second Law

Newton’s second law answers the question of what happens to an object when one or
more forces act on it.
acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force acting on it: 𝐹 ∝ 𝑎.
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magnitude of the acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to its mass: 𝑎 ∝ .
𝑚

Newton’s second law:

the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and
inversely proportional to its mass:

If we choose a proportionality constant of 1, we can relate mass, acceleration, and

force through the following mathematical statement of Newton’s second law:

σ 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎 (2)

The SI unit of force is the newton (N).

1𝑁 ≡ 1 𝑘𝑔 𝑚 (3)
Τ𝑠2
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Example
Estimate the net force needed to accelerate
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(a) a 1000𝑘𝑔 car at 2 𝑔.
(b) a 200𝑔 apple at the same rate

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Example
What average net force is required to bring a 1500𝑘𝑔 car to rest from a speed
of100 𝑘𝑚Τℎ𝑟 within a distance of 55𝑚?

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3.4 The Gravitational Force and Weight

All objects are attracted to the Earth. The attractive force exerted by the Earth on an
object is called the gravitational force Fg.
This force is directed toward the center of the Earth, and its magnitude is called the
weight of the object.
We saw in Section earlier that a freely falling object experiences an acceleration g
acting toward the center of the Earth.
Applying Newton’s second law 𝑭 = 𝑚𝒂 to a freely falling object of mass 𝑚, with
a = g and 𝑭 = 𝑭𝑔, gives

𝑭𝒈 = 𝑚𝒈 (4)
Therefore, the weight of an object, being defined as the magnitude of Fg, is given by

𝐹𝑔 = 𝑚𝑔 (5)

Because it depends on g, weight varies with geographic location.

Because g decreases with increasing distance from the center of the Earth, objects
weigh less at higher altitudes than at sea level.
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3.5 Newton’s Third Law
Newton’s third law:
If two objects interact, the force F12 exerted by object 1 on object 2 is equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction to the force F21 exerted by object 2 on object 1:

𝑭12 = −𝑭21 (6)

The force that object 1 exerts on object 2 is popularly called the action force, and the
force of object 2 on object 1 is called the reaction force.

Consider a computer monitor at rest on a table as in Figure below.

Because the monitor has zero acceleration, Newton’s second law applied to the
monitor gives us.

𝐹 = 𝑛 − 𝑚𝑔 = 0

𝑛 = 𝑚𝑔

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3.6 Analysis Models Using Newton’s Second Law

• In this section, we discuss two analysis models for solving problems in which objects
are either in equilibrium a = 0 or accelerating under the action of constant external
forces.
• For now, we also neglect the effects of friction in those problems involving motion,
which is equivalent to stating that the surfaces are frictionless.
• We usually neglect the mass of any ropes, strings, or cables involved.
• When a rope attached to an object is pulling on the object, the rope exerts a force
on the object in a direction away from the object, parallel to the rope.
• The magnitude T of that force is called the tension in the rope.

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Analysis Model: The Particle in Equilibrium

If the acceleration of an object modelled as a particle is zero, the object is treated with
the particle in equilibrium model. In this model, the net force on the object is zero:

𝑭 = 0 (7)

Consider a lamp suspended from a light chain fastened to the ceiling as in Figure a.
Because there are no forces in the x direction, 𝐹𝑥 = 0 provides no helpful
information. The condition 𝐹𝑦 = 0 gives

𝐹𝑦 = 𝑇 − 𝐹𝑔 = 0

𝑇 = 𝐹𝑔

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Analysis Model: The Particle Under a Net
Force

• If an object experiences an acceleration, its motion can be analysed with the particle
under a net force model. The appropriate equation for this model is Newton’s
second law:
𝑭 = 𝑚𝒂
• Consider a crate being pulled to the right on a frictionless, horizontal floor as in
Figure a.
• Applying 𝐹𝑥 = m𝑎𝑥 to the horizontal motion gives

σ 𝑭𝒙 = 𝑻 = 𝒎𝒂𝒙
𝑻
𝒂𝒙 = 𝒎

σ 𝑭𝒚 = 𝒏 − 𝑭𝒈 = 𝟎
𝒏 = 𝑭𝒈

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3.7 Forces of Friction
• When an object is in motion either on a surface or in a viscous medium such as air
or water, there is resistance to the motion because the object interacts with its
surroundings.
• We call such resistance a force of friction.
• Forces of friction allow us to walk or run and are necessary for the motion of
wheeled vehicles.
• Imagine that you are working in your garden and have filled a trash can with yard
clippings (Fig. 3.7).

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4.7 Forces of Friction
• Experiments show that the friction force arises from the nature of the two surfaces:
because of their roughness, contact is made only at a few locations where peaks of
the material touch.
• If we increase the magnitude of F as in Figure 3.7b, the trash can eventually slips.
• When the trash can is on the verge of slipping, fs has its maximum value fs,max as
shown in Figure 3.7c.
• When F exceeds fs,max the trash can moves and accelerates to the right.
• We call the friction force for an object in motion the force of kinetic friction fk.
• When the trash can is in motion, the force of kinetic friction on the can is less than
fs,max (Fig. 3.7c).
• The net force F - fk in the x direction produces an acceleration to the right, according
to Newton’s second law.
• If F = fk, the acceleration is zero and the trash can moves to the right with constant
speed.

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3.7 Forces of Friction
Experimentally, we find that, to a good approximation, both fs,max and fk are
proportional to the magnitude of the normal force exerted on an object by the surface.
𝑓𝑠 ≤ 𝜇𝑠 𝑛 (8)

where the dimensionless constant 𝜇𝑠 is called the coefficient of static friction and n is
the magnitude of the normal force exerted by one surface on the other.

𝑓𝑠 = 𝑓𝑠,𝑚𝑎𝑠 = 𝜇𝑠 𝑛

𝑓𝑘 = 𝜇𝑘 𝑛 (9)

where k is the coefficient of kinetic friction.

The values of 𝜇𝑘 and 𝜇𝑠 depend on the nature of the surfaces, but k is generally less
than 𝜇𝑠 .
Typical values range from around 0.03 to 1.0.
The coefficients of friction are nearly independent of the area of contact between the
surfaces.

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Example
A hockey puck on a frozen pond is hit and given an initial speed of 20 𝑚Τ𝑠. If the puck
always remains on the ice and slides a distance of 120𝑚 before coming to rest,
determine the coefficient of kinetic friction between the puck and the ice.
Solution: first make a free body diagram of the puck after being hit. Assume the
coefficient of kinetic friction 𝑓𝑘 remains constant through out the motion.

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Example

A block whose mass is 10𝑘𝑔 rests on a horizontal surface. What constant horizontal
force 𝑇 is required to give it a velocity of 4 𝑚Τ𝑠 in 2𝑠, starting from rest, if the frictional
force between the block and the surface is constant and equal to 5𝑁?

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3.8 Model 1: Motion in the Presence of Resistive Forces
• Consider the effect of a medium like liquid or a gas as an object moves through it.
• The medium exerts a resistive force R on the object moving through it.
• Some examples are the air resistance associated with moving vehicles (sometimes
called air drag) and the viscous forces that act on objects moving through a liquid.
• The magnitude of R depends on factors such as the speed of the object, and the
direction of R is always opposite the direction of the object’s motion relative to the
medium.
Model 1: Resistive Force Proportional to Object Velocity
• If we model the resistive force acting on an object moving through a liquid or gas as
proportional to the object’s velocity, the resistive force can be expressed as

R = −bv (10)
• where b is a constant whose value depends on the properties of the medium and
on the shape and dimensions of the object and v is the velocity of the object
relative to the medium.
• The negative sign indicates that R is in the opposite direction to v.
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3.8 Model 1: Motion in the Presence of Resistive Forces

o initially when v = 0, the magnitude of the resistive force is also zero and the
acceleration of the sphere is simply g.

o As t increases, the magnitude of the resistive force increases and the acceleration
decreases.

o The acceleration approaches zero when the magnitude of the resistive force
approaches the sphere’s weight so that the net force on the sphere is zero.

o In this situation, the speed of the sphere approaches its terminal speed, vT.

o The terminal speed is obtained from Equation 12 by setting a = 0, which gives

𝑚𝑔 − 𝑏𝑣𝑇 = 0

𝑚𝑔
𝑣𝑇 =
𝑏
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Examples

An 800 N sky diver reached terminal velocity of 66 m/s while in the air.

a) State his acceleration after reaching terminal velocity.

b) Calculate the drag force?
c) Calculate constant b, of the drag force.

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