Lecture 12: Newtons 3rd Law and Free Body Diagrams

FP,W FW,P FP,F FP,E

Contact forces:
Objects in contact exert forces on each other. Convention: Fa,b means the force acting on a due to b. So Fbench,thumb means the force on the bench due to my thumb. Fbench,thumb Newtons 3rd law says that there is also a force on my thumb due to the bench Fbench,thumb= -Fthumb,bench
UIUC

FF,P

FE,P Fbench,thumb

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Newtons Third Law: Newton

Forces occur in pairs: FA ,B = - FB ,A. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newton's Third Law...

FA ,B = - FB ,A
is true for contact forces as well:

Fm,w We have already seen this in the case of gravity: m1 F12 R12
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Fw,m

m2 F21

F12 = G

m1m2 = F21 2 R12

Ff,m Fm,f

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3rd Law pairs

What are the paired forces for a block sitting on a table? Attraction of the earth on the block acting down, attraction of the block on the earth acting up Upward force of the table on the block, downward force of the block on the table. Forces on the block are equal an opposite and the block does not move. (Newtons 2nd law)
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Example of Bad Thinking

Man pushes on Box on ice. Since Fm,b = -Fb,m, why isnt Fnet = 0 and a = 0 ? F

Fm,b a ??

Fb,m

ice

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Example of Good Thinking

Consider only the box as the system! Fon box = mabox = Fb,m , the box accelerates a Fm,b is acting on you, not the box, you will accelerate in the opposite direction Work it all out with a Free Body Diagram.

Horse and Cart and the 3rd law

An educated horse (having taken but failed Physics 1301) reasoned, according to the third law whatever force I exert on the cart, the cart will exert an equal and opposite force on me, so the net force will be zero and I will have no chance of accelerating the cart. So why bother? To see whether the cart will move we need to consider the cart alone and all the forces on it. Then there is an unbalenced forward force. Alternatively consider the whole system of horse and cart The forces on the horses collar are called internal forces and cancel

abox

Fb,m Fm,b

ice

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ICQ: Newtons 3rd Law Newton

Two blocks are stacked on the ground. How many actionreaction pairs of forces are present in this system? (a) 2 (b) 3 (c) 4

ICQ: Newtons 3rd Law Newton

Two blocks are stacked on the ground. How many actionreaction pairs of forces are present in this system? (a) 2

a b
UIUC Physics 1301: Lecture 12, Pg 9

(b) 3 (c) 4

a b

UIUC

Physics 1301: Lecture 12, Pg 10

ICQ Solution: Solution:

The Free Body Diagram

Newtons 2nd Law says that for an object F = ma. a

Fa,E

a b

a
Fb,E

Fb,a Fa,b

a b
Fb,g Fg,b

a b

Key phrase here is for an object. object. So before we can apply F = ma to any given object we a must isolate the forces acting on this object:

FE,a

FE,b

(c) 4 pairs
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The Free Body Diagram...

Consider the case of a plank leaning against a wall What are the forces acting on the plank ? Remember that Fab is the force exerted on a by b P = plank F = floor FP,W W = wall E = earth FP,F Isolate plank from the rest of the world FP,E

The Free Body Diagram...

The forces acting on the plank should reveal themselves...

FP,W FW,P FP,F FP,E

FF,P

FE,P
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Aside...
In this example the plank is not moving... It is certainly not accelerating! a So FNET = ma becomes FNET = 0 FP,W

Dynamics
Example dynamics problem: A box of mass m = 2 kg slides on a horizontal frictionless floor. A force Fx = 10 N pushes on it in the x direction. What is the acceleration of the box? y F = Fx i m a =? x

FP,F

FP,W + FP,F + FP,E = 0 FP,E

This is the basic idea behind statics, which we will discuss in a few weeks.

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Dynamics
Draw a picture showing all of the forces

Dynamics
Draw a picture showing all of the forces. Isolate the forces acting on the block.

y Fx FB,F x FB,E FE,B

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y Fx FB,F x FF,B g FB,E = mg FE,B

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FF,B

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Dynamics
Draw a picture showing all of the forces. Isolate the forces acting on the block. Draw a free body diagram. (We will see later in the course that for an extended body it works as if all the forces act on the center of mass. So for the time being we can take the body as a point and draw all the forces acting at that point.) Fx FB,F y

Dynamics Problem
Draw a picture showing all of the forces. Isolate the forces acting on the block. Draw a free body diagram. Solve Newtons equations for each component. Fx = maX FB,F - mg = maY FB,F

y x

Fx x mg g

mg g

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Dynamics Problem
Fx = maX So aX = Fx / m = (10 N)/(2 kg) = 5 m/s2. FB,F - mg = maY But aY = 0 So FB,F = mg FX FB,F =N y x mg The perpendicular component of the force of the floor on the object (FB,F ) is often called the Normal Force (N). (because it is perpendicular, not usual) Since aY = 0 , N = mg in this case.
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Dynamics Problem
N = mg FX aX = FX / m mg Since we have calculated the acceleration of the block ax , we can plug this into the equations of motion

y x

*E.g

x=x0+v0xt+1/2axt2 and calculate the position of the block at any time t

Physics 1301: Lecture 12, Pg 22

Normal Force
A block of mass m rests on the floor of an elevator that is accelerating upward. What is the relationship between the force due to gravity and the normal force on the block?

Normal Force
A block of mass m rests on the floor of an elevator that is accelerating upward. What is the relationship between the force due to gravity and the normal force on the block?

(a) N > mg (b) N = mg (c) N < mg

m a

(a) N > mg (b) N = mg (c) N < mg

m a

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Normal Force
All forces are acting in the y direction, so use: Ftotal = ma N - mg = ma N = ma + mg therefore N > mg
mg N

Homework
Homework: Do textbook problems Chapter 4: 6,17,31,37,55,64 Read : Fishbane Chapter 5, sections 1,2,3

Normal force=Apparent Weight of block If the elevator is accelerating downwards N - mg = -ma N = mg ma = 0 if a=g
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