Newton's Laws of Motion - with Examples, Problems, Solutions and

Visualizations

Basic Mechanics Tutorials- At a glance

 
 Vectors; Rectilinear and Projectile Motion 

Vectors and Projectile Motion

Newton's Laws of Motion

Work, Force and Energy

Simple Harmonic Motion

Rotational Dynamics

Fluid Mechanics

Newton’s Laws of Motion

Target Audience: High School Students, College Freshmen and Sophomores, students preparing for the  Int
AP Physics B, AP Physics C, A Level, Singapore/GCE A-Level;   

Class 11/12 students in India preparing for ISC/CBSE and Entrance Examinations like the IIT-JEE/AIEEE
Tutorial as a reference!

This might also be helpful in studying topics required by Common Core Physics. 

A Quick Summary of what we'll study in this chapter and the kind of
(after this intro, there is a comprehensive document with study materi
to problems.)
An Introduction to Newton's Laws of Motion

Science originates by observing nature and making inferences from them followed by devising and doing expe
The three laws of motion discovered by Newton govern the motion of every object in nature all the time but du
resistance, they are a little difficult to see.

Newton’s first law is stated as:

“In the absence of external forces, an object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion continues in motio
with a constant speed in a straight line)”.
Though this is not what we observe everyday. A ball rolling on the floor eventually stops, faster on a sandy fl
This is due to the force of friction present between the ball and the floor. An opposing force in the direction o
the ball down and eventually brings it to rest. If the ball were rolling on a frictionless floor(ideal case), it w
external forces.

Newton’s second law states:

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to i
∑F = ma
This law is a little easier to observe as compared to the first law. You can throw a lighter shot put farther than a
your energy (or force) in both the cases. This happens because the lighter one gets more acceleration as compar
to cover more distance before falling down. Though there are a lot of other factors like angle of throwing, air dr
covered by the shot put before landing but assuming those factors to be equivalent in both the throws, this shou
Newton’s second law holds.

Newton’s third law states:

If two objects interact, the force F exerted by object 1 on object 2 is equal in magnitude to and opposite in d
12

object 2 on object 1:
F = -F
12 21

This law can be understood by considering the following example. When you hit a football with a barefoot, the
and it hurts more if you hit it with greater strength. Thus, the football exerts as much force on your foot as you
confusion regarding this rule when you think of all the bodies that the earth is attracting with its force of gravita
exert back on the earth? This is very true, anything that the earth attracts towards itself also attracts the earth tow
equal to the magnitude of g (acceleration due to gravity), but the mass of earth is so large as compared to the m
effectively remains at rest whereas the body accelerates towards it and falls on the surface of the earth.

Topics which the tutorial will introduce and apply in various interesting problems :

Drawing free body diagrams and identifying forces acting on a body

While solving any problem on Newton’s laws of motion, we make use of free body diagrams. In these diagram
forces acting on the object and then apply newton’s second law to find its acceleration and other parameters. If
more than one object, then their free body diagrams are drawn separately and then solved.
Friction : Static and dynamic friction

The force of friction is something you encounter all the time, so it’s the easiest to understand. The force of frict
magnitude changes upto a maximum value depending on the external force applied on the object. Suppose you
slide it to another location. You start pushing it with a little force initially and you keep increasing the force unt
value of force, the box remains at rest whatever be the force applied on it by you. The free body diagram of the
For the box to remain in equilibrium, the force of friction must always be equal to the force applied by you. He
friction (till the box doesn’t move) equals the applied force until it reaches a maximum after which it remains c
Thus, frictional force opposes (impending or actual) relative motion between two surfaces in contact. Static fric
motion; kinetic friction f opposes actual relative motion. They are independent of the area of contact and satisfy
k

f ≤ (f ) = μ R
s s max s

f = μR
k k

μ (co-efficient of static friction) and μ (co-efficient of kinetic friction) are constants characteristic of the pair o
s k

experimentally that μ is slightly less than μ . It is found experimentally that the force of friction is independent
k s

bodies as can be seen from the expressions for the force also. Static friction is a self-adjusting force up to its li
put f = μ N without being sure that the maximum value of static friction is coming into play. Frictional force tha
s s

surfaces in contact is called kinetic or sliding friction. 

Important Points:
In all the problems on Newton’s Laws of motion, proceed by drawing the free body diagrams for each object in
solving for the unknown.
The physics (and probably the difficult part) in these problems is to recognize the constraints that bind the diffe
two objects have to move with the same acceleration or the object cannot lose contact with the surface of the in
object perpendicular to surface has to be zero. Rest is mathematics and comes easy after practicing a few proble
you can solve any problem on this topic.
A string has same tension in it at all points. Each infinitesimal part of the string has the same tension trying to p

Related Visualizations
Constrained Motion 1 - A Block and a Wedge

Constrained Motion 2- Two Blocks on a wedge connected by a pulley

Constrained Motion 3- Two Blocks with inclined surfaces in contact with each other

Collisions in 2D
Here are some of the problems solved in this tutorial :

Q: A mass of 5 kg is suspended by a rope of length 2 m from the ceiling. A force of 45 N in the horizontal dire
of the rope, as shown. What is the angle the rope makes with the vertical in equilibrium? (Take g = 10 ms ). Ne -2

Q: A mass of 3 kg rests on a horizontal plane. The plane is gradually inclined until at an angle θ = 20° with the
slide. What is the coefficient of static friction between the block and the surface?

Q: A small block B is placed is placed on another block A of mass 7 kg and length 15 cm. Initially the block B
constant horizontal force of 10 N is applied to the block A. All the surfaces are assumed frictionless. Find the ti
separates from A.

Q: A ball of mass 5 kg and a block of mass 12 kg are attached by a lightweight cord that passes over a frictionl
shown in the figure. The block lies on a frictionless incline of angle 30 . Find the magnitude of the acceleration
o

in the cord. Take g = 10 ms .

-2

Q: Two blocks of masses 5 kg and 7 kg are placed in contact with each other on a frictionless horizontal surfac
is applied to the block of mass 7 kg.
(a) Determine the magnitude of the acceleration of the two-block system.
(b) Determine the magnitude of the contact force between the two blocks.

Q: A block of mass 5 kg starts to slide down a frictionless plane having an inclination of 25.0° from rest at the
2.00 m, find (a) the acceleration of the block and (b) its speed when it reaches the bottom of the incline. Take g

Q: A 75.0 kg man stands on a platform scale in an elevator. Starting from rest, the elevator ascends, attaining it
1.00 s. It travels with this constant speed for the next 10.00 s. The elevator then undergoes a uniform acceleratio
1.70 s and comes to rest. What does the scale register
(a) before the elevator starts to move?
(b) during the first 1.00 s?
(c) while the elevator is traveling at constant speed?
(d) during the time it is slowing down? Take g = 10 ms . -2

Q: A block of mass 2.50 kg is accelerated across a rough surface by a rope passing over a pulley, as shown in f
12.0 N, and the pulley is 10.0 cm above the top of the block. The coefficient of kinetic friction is 0.300. (a) Det
block when x = 0.400 m. (b) Find the value of x at which the acceleration becomes zero. Take g = 10 ms . -2
Q: A block is given an initial velocity of 5.00 m/s up a frictionless 20.0° incline. How far up the incline does th
rest? Take g = 10 ms . -2

Q: Two blocks of mass 5 kg and 9 kg are connected by a string of negligible mass that passes over a frictionles
frictionless. Find (a) the magnitude of the acceleration of each block and (b) the tension in the string. Take g =

Q: In figure blocks A and B have masses 40 kg and 20 kg respectively. (a) Determine the minimum weight of b
the coefficient of friction, μ between A and the table is 0.18. Block C is suddenly lifted off A. (b) What is the a
s

between A and the table is 0.15. Take g = 10 ms . -2

Q: Two masses 5 kg and 7 kg situated on a frictionless, horizontal surface are connected by a light string. A for
masses to the right. Determine the acceleration of the system and the tension T in the string.

Q: A block of mass m = 5 kg on a frictionless horizontal table is connected to a block of mass m = 3 kg by me

1 2

light fixed pulley P as shown in figure. If a and a are the accelerations of m and m , respectively, (a) what is th
2 1 2 1 2

accelerations? Find (b) the tensions in the strings and (c) the accelerations a and a . Take g = 10 ms .        
1 2
-2

Q: A block A of mass 0.5 kg can slide on a frictionless incline of angle 30 and length 0.8 m kept inside an elev
o

velocity 2m/s. Find the time taken by the block to slide down the length of the incline if it is released from the t

Q: The elevator shown is descending with a constant acceleration of 1.5 ms . The mass of the block A is 1 kg. W
-2

on block B? Take g = 10 ms . -2

Q: Consider the three connected objects shown in figure. If the inclined plane is frictionless and the system is i
g, and θ (a) the mass M and (b) the tensions T and T . If the value of M is double the value found in part (a), fin
1 2

object, and (d) the tensions T and T . 1 2

Q: In the above problem, if the coefficient of static friction between m and 2m and the inclined plane is μ , and
s

(a) the minimum value of M and (b) the maximum value of M.

Q: A mass M = 16 kg is held in place by an applied force F and a pulley system as shown in figure. The pulleys
Find (a) the tension in each section of rope, T1, T2, T3, T4, and T5 and (b) the magnitude of F. Take g = 10 ms -

Q: What horizontal force must be applied to the cart shown in figure so that the blocks remain stationary relativ
wheels, and pulley are frictionless.
Q: A block slides with constant velocity down an inclined plane that has slope angle θ. The block is then projec
initial speed u. (a) How far up the plane will it move before coming to rest? (b) After the block comes to rest, w

Q: A block of mass m = 4.0 kg is put on top of a block of mass m = 5.0 kg. To cause the top block to slip on th
1 2

is held fixed, a horizontal force of at least 12 N must be applied to the top block. The assembly of blocks is now
frictionless table. Find the magnitudes of (a) the maximum horizontal force that can be applied to the lower blo
together and (b) the resulting acceleration of the blocks. Take g = 10 ms . -2

Q: Find the acceleration of block of mass in the figure shown. All the surfaces are frictionless and the pulleys a

Q: Find the acceleration of the 5 kg block in figure. Take g = 10 ms -2

Q: In the given figure, suppose m = 2.5 kg and m = 3 kg. What should be the mass m so that it remains at rest
2 3 1

Q: A constant force F = m g/3 is applied on the mass m as shown in figure. The pulley and the string are light a
2 1

smooth. Find the acceleration of m . 1

Q: Block 1 of mass m = 2.0 kg and block 2 of mass m = 1.0 kg are connected by a string of negligible mass. B
1 2

magnitude 25 N and angle θ = 35°.The coefficient of kinetic friction between each block and the horizontal sur
the string? Take g = 10 ms .
-2

Q: The two blocks shown in figure are not attached to each other. The coefficient of static friction between the
beneath the larger block is frictionless. What is the minimum magnitude of the horizontal force required to keep
down the larger block? Take g = 10 ms . -2

Q: Find the mass of the hanging block in figure which will prevent the smaller block from slipping over the tria
frictionless and the strings and the pulley are light.