KINEMATICS

NEWTON’S LAW OF MOTION

It was Isaac Newton who first introduced the concepts of mass and force, to a large extent to
make sense of the experimental results obtained by previous scientists. Using these concepts, or
principles, he was able to put forth three fundamental laws of motions (i.e., Newton’s Laws of
Motion) upon which much of classical physics rests upon. We review the different types of
forces encountered in Newtonian (or classical) mechanics before we introduce Newton’s Laws.
A force is an interaction between two bodies or between a body and its environment. One
intuitive type of force is a contact force, which often clearly involves a direct interaction (or
contact) between the surfaces or boundaries of the bodies involved. We can further discriminate
between different kinds of contact forces.

1. A body in contact with the surface of another object will experience a force that is
directed normal to that surface. Perhaps the simplest example of a normal force is that
of a book resting on a table. Since the book does not fall under its own weight it must be
that the table is exerting a force normal to its surface to keep the book at rest. Another
example is that of a block at rest or sliding on an inclined plane. Even in the case where
the block is sliding, there is the presence of a force oriented perpendicularly to the
surface of the plane; if not the block would not be sliding but falling through the plane.
2. The aforementioned normal force is not the only one exerted by the plane on an
object sliding on it. There is a friction force that is oriented parallel to the surface of
contact, but in the direction opposite to that of the sliding. Friction forces can be further
differentiated depending on whether the object is not sliding (but is about to) or it is
already in motion. More precisely, it takes a greater applied force to start the object
moving (i.e., to overcome the static friction force) than it takes to keep it sliding (when
the kinetic friction force is at work).
Finally, whenever an object is pulled, through a string or a rope attached to it, it can be set in
motion through a tension force (as long as it is stronger than the static friction force).
Contact forces are not the only agents through which bodies interact, however. For example,
electric and magnetic forces as well as the gravitational force act over distances in vacuum and
therefore do not require any type of contact (or a series of contacts) to make themselves felt by
bodies. Such forces are referred to as long-range forces
Newton’s Laws
Now that we have determined the kind of forces that are susceptible to affect the dynamics of
bodies in Newtonian mechanics, we now turn to the laws of nature that will allow us to quantify
these interactions. Newton’s Laws are often simply stated as:
1. Newton’s First Law of Motion
A body continues to be in its state of rest or in uniform motion along a straight line unless an
external force is applied on it. The state of rest or uniform linear motion both imply zero
acceleration. The first law of motion can, therefore, be simply expressed as: If the net external
force on a body is zero, its acceleration is zero. Acceleration can be non-zero only if there is a
net external force on the body.
This law is also called law of inertia.
Examples
When a carpet or a blanket is beaten with a stick then the dust particles separate out from it.
If a moving vehicle suddenly stops then the passengers inside the vehicle bend outward.
2. Newton’s Second Law of Motion
The rate of change of linear momentum is proportional to the applied force and change in
momentum takes place in the direction of applied force.
The Second Law is very explicit: Force is the time rate of change of the momentum. But what is
the momentum p …

p ≡ mv,

with m the mass, and v the velocity of the body. We therefore rewrite the Second Law as
Fnet = dp
dt equation 1
= d(mv)
dt
Although we still don't have a definition for the concept of mass, we can further transform
equation 1, if we assume that it is a constant, to yield

Fnet = m dv
dt
and a = dv
dt

Fnet = ma,
Examples

(i) It is easier for a strong adult to push a full shopping cart than it is for a baby to push the
same cart. (This is depending on the net force acting on the object).

(ii) It is easier for a person to push an empty shopping cart than a full one (This is depending
on the mass of the object).
3. Newton’s Third Law of Motion
For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction and both acts on two different bodies

Mathematically F12 = – F21

Examples

(i) Swimming becomes possible because of third law of motion.

(ii) Jumping of a man from a boat onto the bank of a river.

(iii) Jerk is produced in a gun when bullet is fired from it.

(iv) Pulling of cart by a horse.

Note Newton’s second law of motion is called real law of motion because first and third laws of
motion can be obtained by it.
The modern version of these laws is

(i) A body continues in its initial state of rest or motion with uniform velocity unless acted
on by an unbalanced external force.
Forces always occur in pairs. If body A exerts a force on body B, an equal but opposite force is
exerted by body B on body A.
Law of Conservation of Linear Momentum
If no external force acts on a system, then its total linear momentum remains conserved.
Linear momentum depends on frame of reference but law of conservation of linear momentum is
independent of frame of reference.
Newton’s laws of motion are valid only in inertial frame of reference.
Inertia
The property of an object by virtue of which it cannot change its state of rest or of uniform
motion along a straight line its own, is called inertia.
Inertia is a measure of mass of a body. Greater the mass of a body greater will be its inertia or
vice-versa.
Inertia is of three types:

(i) Inertia of Rest When a bus or train starts to move suddenly, the passengers sitting in it
falls backward due to inertia of rest.

(ii) Inertia of Motion When a moving bus or train stops suddenly, the passengers sitting in it
jerks in forward direction due to inertia of motion.

(iii) Inertia of Direction We can protect yourself from rain by an umbrella because rain drops
can not change its direction its own due to inertia of direction.
IMPULSE
A large force acting for a short time to produce a finite change in momentum is called an
impulsive force. In the history of science, impulsive forces were put in a conceptually different
category from ordinary forces. Newtonian mechanics has no such distinction. Impulsive force is
like any other force – except that it is large and acts for a short time.
Impulse = Force × time duration
= Change in momentum
CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM
The second and third laws of motion lead to an important consequence: the law of conservation
of momentum. Take a familiar example. A bullet is fired from a gun. If the force on the bullet
by the gun is F, the force on the gun by the bullet is – F, according to the third law. The two
forces act for a common interval of time ∆t. According to the second law, F ∆t is the change in
momentum of the bullet and – F ∆t is the change in momentum of the gun. Since initially, both
are at rest, the change in momentum equals the final momentum for each. Thus if pb is the
momentum of the bullet after firing and pg is the recoil momentum of the gun, pg = – pb i.e. pb
+ pg = 0. That is, the total momentum of the (bullet + gun) system is conserved.
Thus in an isolated system (i.e. a system with no external force), mutual forces between pairs of
particles in the system can cause momentum change in individual particles, but since the mutual
forces for each pair are equal and opposite, the momentum changes cancel in pairs and the total
momentum remains unchanged. This fact is known as the law of conservation of momentum