Forces

Table of Contents
The Nature of Force
Friction and Gravity
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Momentum
Free Fall and Circular Motion
The Nature of Force

Net Force
The change in motion of an
object is determined by the net
force acting on the object. What
is the net force for each situation?
The Nature of Force

Which of these three arrows represents the correct amount of net force
of the above two arrows?
Friction and Gravity

Types of Friction
Friction acts opposite the direction of motion. Determine the frictional force at
work.
Friction and Gravity

Frictions
Give five examples for sliding, static, fluid and rolling frictions.
Gravity
 What is gravity?

Gravity is a force that pulls objects toward each other.

-Isaac Newton concluded that gravity is a force that pulls

objects straight down toward the center of Earth.

What observations might you make today that would lead you
to the same conclusion about gravity?
 Universal Gravitation

-Gravity is everywhere, not just on Earth

-Keeps the moon orbiting the Earth and all the other planets
orbiting the sun
-The Law of Universal Gravitation states that the force of
gravity acts between all objects in the universe that have
mass.
-Any two objects in the universe that have mass will attract
each other.
Do we notice this force of attraction? Explain.
 Skydivers

-Check out the skydivers in Figure 2 on pg 21

•What forces are acting on these skydivers? (there are 2)

•Which force is greater?
•How can you tell?
•How will the skydivers land safely?
 Factors Affecting Gravity
Gravitational Attraction
Gravitational attraction depends on two factors: mass and distance.
-The more mass an object has, the greater the gravitational force
between it and other objects.
-Gravitational force also depends
on the distance
between the objects’
1. Circle the object in the outermost
centers. orbit that has the greatest
-As distance increases, gravitational attraction to the sun.

gravitational force
decreases.

3. Draw what planet C

2. Planet B’s force arrow from would look like if it were
the sun’s gravitational pull the same distance from the
would be (longer/shorter) than sun, but experienced a
the arrow from planet A. smaller gravitational pull
from the sun.
Friction and Gravity

Weight and Mass

On the moon, the dog would weigh about ⅙ of what he does on Earth.
On Earth, he would weight just over ⅓ of what he does on Earth. What
would the dog’s weight be on each planet?
⅙ x 60/1 = 10 N & ⅓ x 60/1 = 20 N

10 20
Newton’s Laws of Motion
Newton’s Laws of Motion

Lesson Goals
● Apply scientific principles to describe Newton’s first law of
motion.

● Use mathematical representations to describe Newton’s

second law of motion.

● Develop & use models to describe Newton’s third law of

motion.
Newton’s First Law (pg 24)

Newton’s first law of motion states that an object at

rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by a nonzero
net force. An object moving at a constant velocity will
continue moving at a constant velocity unless acted
upon by a nonzero net force.

● An object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion

remains in motion at a constant velocity and in a
straight line unless acted upon by an unbalanced force

● What it means:
Objects tend to resist ANY change in motion.
Inertia (pg 25)

● Resistance to change in motion is called inertia.

● Newton’s first law of motion is also called the law of

inertia.

Inertia depends on mass

● The greater the mass of an object, the greater its inertia

AND the greater the force required to change its motion.

Look at the activity in Figure 1

Newton’s Second Law (pg 26)
● If you want to increase the acceleration of a bicycle,
what do you need to do?

Changes in Force & Mass

● What happens if you increase the force applied on a

cart without changing its mass?

● What happens if you decrease the mass of the cart

without changing the force applied?
Newton’s Second Law (pg 26)
Figure 2
Suppose that four dogs pull a sled carrying two people.
How can the picture-stories be completed to represent
answers to the two different questions?
Newton’s Second Law (pg 26)
Newton’s second law of motion states that an
object’s acceleration depends on its mass and on the
net force acting on it.

● The acceleration of an object depends on A) the

mass of the object and B) the amount of force
applied.

● What it means:

The harder you push something, the faster it goes, but

the heavier something is, the harder you have to push to
make it move in the first place.
Determining Acceleration (pg 26)

● The relationship between force, mass & acceleration

(Newton’s 2nd law) can be represented mathematically:

● Or, as it is more commonly seen:

Determining Acceleration (pg 27)

● Acceleration is measured in meters per second per

second (m/s2).

● Mass is measured in kilograms (kg).

● Force is measured in kilograms times meters per second

per second (kg⋅m/s2), called the Newton (N).

● One newton is the force required to give a 1 kg mass an

acceleration of 1m/s2.

● Let’s do the math!

Newton’s Third Law (pg 28)
● If you leaned on a wall and it didn’t push back on
you, what would happen?

Newton’s third law of motion states that if one object

exerts a force on another object, then the second
object exerts a force of equal strength in the opposite
direction on the first object.

● For every action, there is an equal and opposite

reaction.

● What it means:

If you push on something, it pushes back on you with the

same amount of force.
Newton’s third law (pg 28)

Action-Reaction Pairs

● Pairs of action-reaction forces are all around you.

● EX: When you walk, you push backward against the

ground with your feet (action force). The ground pushes
forward against your feet with an equal & opposite force
(reaction force).

● Look at Figure 3
Newton’s Third Law (pg 28)

Action-Reaction Pairs

● Draw arrows to show the

action-reaction forces
between the gymnast
and the balance beam.

● Draw your own example

in the space provided.
Newton’s Third Law (pg 29)

Detecting Motion

● What happens when you drop a pen?

● What force causes this?

● Based on Newton’s third law, do you know what else

happens?

● Why don’t we see it?

Newton’s Third Law (pg 29)

Do Action-Reaction Forces Cancel?

● Action-reaction force pairs do not cancel out because they

act on different objects.

● Look back at Figure 3 (pg 28)

● The swimmer exerts a backward action force on the

water. The water exerts an equal but opposite force on
the swimmer’s hands.

● Check out Figure 4 for another example.

Newton’s Third Law (pg 29)
Balanced Forces

Do Action-Reaction Forces Cancel?

● The volleyball players both exert a

force on the same object, the ball

● The forces working on the ball are

equal & opposite, so they are
balanced.
Newton’s Third Law (pg 29)
Action-Reaction Forces
Using Newton’s third law, draw and label the force arrows
needed to complete the diagram.
Newton’s Laws of Motion (pg 30-31)
What Makes a
Bug Go Splat?
Splat! A bug
has just flown into the
windshield of
an oncoming
car. The car
must have hit
the bug much harder than
the bug hit
the car, right?

Use Newton’s Laws of

motion to answer the
questions on pg 30-31.
Momentum
Momentum (pg 33)
● Momentum is a characteristic of a moving object that is
related to the mass and velocity of the object.

● The momentum of a moving object can be determined by

multiplying the object’s mass by its velocity.

Momentum = Mass x Velocity

● mass measured in kg

● velocity measured in m/s

● momentum measured in kg⋅m/s

Momentum (pg 33)
● Momentum has both direction and strength

● Direction of momentum is same as direction of velocity

● The more momentum a moving object has, the harder it is

to stop.

● EX:
0.1 kg baseball moving at 40 m/s has a momentum of
4 kg⋅m/s (0.1kg x 40 m/s)

Is that pretty easy to stop?

Momentum (pg 33)
● A 1,200 kg car moving at the same speed as the baseball has
a much greater momentum: 48,000 kg⋅m/s (1,200 kg x 40
m/s)

● Velocity also affects momentum.

● Just like increasing mass increases momentum, increasing

velocity also increases momentum.

apply it!
Work with your table group to complete the 2 practice problems at
the bottom of pg 33.
Don’t forget the units and the direction!
Conservation of Momentum (pg 34)
Picture this: You’re riding go-carts. You slam into another
go-cart that was at rest and got stuck to it. What happens to
your momentum?

● The Law of Conservation of Momentum states that, in the

absence of outside forces like friction, the total momentum
of objects that interact does not change.

● The amount of momentum two cars have is the same

before and after they interact.

The total momentum of any group of objects remains the

same, or is conserved, unless outside forces act on the
objects.
Momentum (pg 34)
Non-Sticky Collisions
Momentum (pg 35)
Sticky Collisions
Free Fall & Circular Motion
 Free Fall & Circular Motion
Learning Goals
● Apply scientific principles to describe the motion of
an object during free fall

● Apply scientific principles to describe the behavior of

an object that experiences centripetal force.
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 37)
When you throw a ball, how can you tell gravity is acting on
it?

What is Free Fall?

● When the only force acting on an object is gravity, the
object is said to be in free fall.

● Free fall is motion where the acceleration is caused by

gravity.

When something falls on Earth, is gravity the only force

acting on it?
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 37)
● Friction acts against gravity, reducing the acceleration of
falling objects.

● If an object falls for long enough, increased air friction

reduces its acceleration to ZERO!

● It continues to fall, but won’t fall any faster (terminal

velocity)

● Near the surface of Earth, acceleration due to gravity is

9.8 m/s2

Let’s do the math to find the velocity of falling objects at

different times.
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 37)
Complete the table below for an object that is dropped
from rest. Remember that Velocity = Acceleration x Time
and acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2.
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 38)

Satellites

● Satellites are objects that orbit around other objects in

space.

● Follow a curved path around Earth

● Curved path of orbit caused by a combination of inertia

(constant forward motion) and gravity (pull toward the
center of Earth)
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 38)

Satellites

● Orbit or orbital
motion
Gravity

Inertia
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 38)
Satellite Motion
A satellite launched
from Earth enters
orbit because the
curve of its path
matches the curved
surface of Earth.
What is the
gravitational force on
the ball at each point?
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 39)

Satellites

● Satellites in orbit around Earth continuously fall

toward Earth, but because Earth is curved they
travel around it.

● A satellite is a falling object that keeps missing the

ground!
Free Fall and Circular Motion (pg 39)
Centripetal Force

● Recall that an object traveling in a circle is

accelerating because it constantly changes
direction.

● A force that causes an object to move in a circular

path is a centripetal force.

● Centripetal forces always point to the center of the

circle.

What would happen if you could turn off centripetal

force on an object traveling in a circular path?

apply it!