5.

5 The Gravitational Force and Weight

We are well aware that 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, 3 and its magnitude is called the weight of the object. We saw in Section .! that a freely falling object ex"eriences an acceleration g to a acting toward the center of the Earth. #""lying $ewton%s second law freely falling object of mass m, with a&g and , we obtain

Thus, the weight of an object, being de'ned as the magnitude of Fg , is e(ual to mg. )ecause it de"ends on g, weight varies with geogra"hic location. )ecause g decreases with increasing distance from the center of the Earth, objects weigh less at higher altitudes than at sea level. For exam"le, a * +++,-g "alette of bric-s used in the construction of the Em"ire State )uilding in $ew .or- /ity weighed 0 1++ $ at street level, but weighed about * $ less by the time it was lifted from sidewal- level to the to" of the building. #s another exam"le, su""ose a student has a mass of 2+.+ -g. The student%s weight in a location where g&0.1+ m3s is Fg& mg& !1! $ 4about *5+ lb6. #t the to" of a mountain, however, where g& 0.22 m3s , the student%s weight is only !17 $. Therefore, if you want to lose weight without going on a diet, climb a mountain or weigh yourself at 3+ +++ ft during an air"lane flight8 )ecause weight is "ro"ortional to mass, we can com"are the masses of two objects by measuring their weights on a s"ring scale. #t a given location 4at which two objects are subject to the same value of g6, the ratio of the weights of two objects e(uals the ratio of their masses. E(uation 5.! (uantifies the gravitational force on the object, but notice that this e(uation does not re(uire the object to be moving. Even for a stationary object, or an object on which several forces act, E(uation 5.! can be used to calculate the magnitude of the gravitational force. This results in a subtle shift in the inter"retation of m in the e(uation. The mass m in E(uation 5.! is "laying the role of determining the strength of the gravitational attraction between the object and the Earth. This is a com"letely different role from that "reviously described for mass, that of measuring the resistance to changes in motion in res"onse to an external force. Thus, we call m in this ty"e of e(uation the gravitational mass. 9es"ite this (uantity being different in behavior from inertial mass, it is one of the ex"erimental conclusions in $ewtonian dynamics that gravitational mass and inertial mass have the same value.

5.6 Newtons Third Law

:f you "ress against a corner of this textboo- with your 'ngerti", the boo"ushes bac- and ma-es a small dent in your s-in. :f you "ush harder, the boo- does the same and the dent in your s-in is a little larger. This sim"le ex"eriment illustrates a general "rinci"le of critical im"ortance -nown as Newtons third law; :f two objects interact, the force F* exerted by object * on object force F* exerted by object * on object is e(ual in

magnitude and o""osite in direction to the force F :f two objects interact, the is e(ual in magnitude and o""osite in on object *; direction to the force F * exerted by object

F * &,F

When it is im"ortant to designate forces as interactions between two objects, we will use this subscri"t notation, where Fab means <the force exerted by a on b.= The third law, which is illustrated in Figure 5.5a, is e(uivalent to stating that forces always occurin pairs, or that a single isolated force cannot e ist . The force that object * exerts on object may be called the action force and the force of object on object * the reaction force. :n reality, either force can be labeled the action or reaction force. The action force is e!ual in magnitude to the reaction force and opposite in direction. "n all cases# the action and reaction forces act on different o$%ects and must $e of the same type . For exam"le, the force acting on a freely falling "rojectile is the gravitational force exerted by the Earth on the "rojectile Fg & FE" 4E & Earth, " "rojectile6, and the magnitude of this force is mg. The reaction to this force is the gravitational force exerted by the "rojectile on the Earth F"E & ,FE". The reaction force F"E must accelerate the Earth toward the "rojectile just as the action force FE" accelerates the "rojectile toward the Earth. >owever, because the Earth has such a large mass, its acceleration due to this reaction force is negligibly small.

#nother exam"le of $ewton%s third law is shown in Figure 5.5b. The force Fhn exerted by the hammer on the nail 4the action6 is e(ual in magnitude and o""osite the force Fnh exerted by the nail on the hammer 4the reaction6. This latter force sto"s the forward motion of the hammer when it stri-es the nail. .ou ex"erience the third law directly if you slam your 'st against a wall or -ic- a football with your bare foot. .ou can feel the force bac- on your 'st or your foot. .ou should be able to identify the action and reaction forces in these cases. The Earth exerts a gravitational force Fg on any object. :f the object is a com"uter monitor at rest on a table, as in Figure 5.!a, the reaction force to Fg FEm is the force exerted by the monitor on the Earth FmE FEm. The monitor does not accelerate because it is held u" by the table. The table exerts on the monitor an u"ward force n Ftm, called the normal force.7 This is the force that "revents the monitor from falling through the table? it can have any value needed, u" to the "oint of brea-ing the table. From $ewton%s second law, we see that, because the monitor has @ero acceleration, it follows that F n mg +, or n mg. The normal force balances the gravitational force on the monitor, so that the net force on the monitor is @ero. The reaction to n is the force exerted by the monitor downward on the table, Fmt Ftm n. $ote that the forces acting on the monitor are Fg and n, as shown in Figure 5.!b. The two reaction forces FmE and Fmt are exerted on objects other than the monitor. Aemember, the two forces in an actionBreaction "air always act on two different objects. Figure 5.! illustrates an extremely im"ortant ste" in solving "roblems involving forces. Figure 5.!a shows many of the forces in the situationCthose acting on the monitor, one acting on the table, and one acting on the Earth. Figure 5.!b, by contrast, shows only the forces acting on one object, the monitor. This is a critical drawing called a free,body diagram. When analy@ing an object subject to forces, we are interested in the net force acting on one object, which we will model as a "article. Thus, a free,body diagram hel"s us to isolate only those forces on the object and eliminate the other forces from our analysis. The free,body diagram can be sim"li'ed further by re"resenting the object 4such as the monitor6 as a "article, by sim"ly drawing a dot.

5.&

'ome (pplications of Newtons Laws

:n this section we a""ly $ewton%s laws to objects that are either in e(uilibrium 4a +6 or accelerating along a straight line under the action of constant external forces. Aemember that when we a""ly $ewton%s laws to an object, we are interested only inexternal forces that act on the object. We assume that the objects can be modeled as "articles so that we need not worry about rotational motion. For now, we also neglect the effects of friction in those "roblems involving motion? this is e(uivalent to stating that the surfaces are frictionless. 4We will incor"orate the friction force in "roblems in Section 5.1.6

We usually neglect the mass of any ro"es, strings, or cables involved. :n this a""roximation, the magnitude of the force exerted at any "oint along a ro"e is the same at all "oints along the ro"e. :n "roblem statements, the synonymous terms light and of negligible mass are used to indicate that a mass is to be ignored when you wor- the "roblems. When a ro"e attached to an object is "ulling on the object, the ro"e exerts a force T on the object, and the magnitude T of that force is called the tension in the ro"e. )ecause it is the magnitude of a vector (uantity, tension is a scalar (uantity.

)$%ects in *!uili$rium :f the acceleration of an object that can be modeled as a "article is @ero, the "article is in e(uilibrium. /onsider a lam" sus"ended from a light chain fastened to the ceiling, as in Figure 5.2a. The free,body diagram for the lam" 4Figure 5.2b6 shows that the forces acting on the lam" are the downward gravitational force Fg and the u"ward force T exerted by the chain. :f we a""ly the second law to the lam", noting that a +, we see that because there are no forces in the x direction, Fx + "rovides no hel"ful information. The condition Fy may + gives
Fy T Fg + or T Fg

#gain, note that T and Fg are not an actionBreaction "air because they act on thesame objectCthe lam". The reaction force to T is T , the downward force exerted by the lam" on the chain, as shown in Figure 5.2c. The ceiling exerts on the chain a force T that is e(ual in magnitude to the magnitude of T and "oints in the o""osite direction.

)$%ects * periencing a Net Force

:f an object that can be modeled as a "article ex"eriences an acceleration, then there must be a non@ero net force acting on the object. /onsider a crate being "ulled to the right on a frictionless, hori@ontal surface, as in Figure 5.1a. Su""ose you are as-ed to 'nd the acceleration of the crate and the force the Door exerts on it. First, note that the hori@ontal force T being a""lied to the crate acts through the ro"e. The magnitude of T is e(ual to the tension in the ro"e. The forces acting on the crate are illustrated in the free,body diagram in Figure 5.1b. :n addition to the force T, the freebody diagram for the crate includes the gravitational force Fg and the normal force n exerted by the Door on the crate. We can now a""ly $ewton%s second law in com"onent form to the crate. The only force acting in the x direction is T. #""lying Fx max to the hori@ontal motion gives

$o acceleration occurs in the y direction. #""lying Fy yields $ E 4, Fg6 & + or n & Fg

may with ay +

5.+

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 are very im"ortant in our everyday lives. They allow us to wal- or run and are necessary for the motion of wheeled vehicles. :magine that you are wor-ing in your garden and have 'lled a trash can with yard cli""ings. .ou then try to drag the trash can across the surface of your concrete "atio, as in Figure 5.*!a. This is a real surface, not an ideali@ed, frictionless surface. :f we a""ly an external hori@ontal force F to the trash can, acting to the right, the trash can remains stationary if F is small. The force that counteracts F and -ee"s the trash can from moving acts to the left and is called the force of static friction fs. #s long as the trash can is not moving, fs also F. Thus, if F is increased, fs also increases. Fi-ewise, if F decreases, fs

decreases. Ex"eriments 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 "ea-s of the material touch, as shown in the magni'ed view of the surface in Figure 5.*!a. #t these locations, the friction force arises in "art because one "ea"hysically bloc-s the motion of a "ea- from the o""osing surface, and in "art from chemical bonding 4<s"ot welds=6 of o""osing "ea-s as they come into contact. :f the surfaces are rough, bouncing is li-ely to occur, further com"licating the analysis. #lthough the details of friction are (uite com"lex at the atomic level, this force ultimately involves an electrical interaction between atoms or molecules.

:f we increase the magnitude of F, as in Figure 5.*!b, the trash can eventually sli"s. When the trash can is on the verge of sli""ing, fs has its maximum value fs,max, as shown in Figure 5.*!c. When F exceeds fs,max, the trash can moves and accelerates to the right. When the trash can is in motion, the friction force is less than fs,max 4Fig.5.*!c6. We call the friction force for an object in motion the force of -inetic friction f- . The net force F f- in the x direction "roduces an acceleration to the right, according to $ewton%s second law. :f F f- , the acceleration is @ero, and the trash can moves to the right with constant s"eed. :f the a""lied force is removed, the friction force acting to the left "rovides an acceleration of the trash can in the x direction and eventually brings it to rest, again consistent with $ewton%s second law. Ex"erimentally, we 'nd that, to a good a""roximation, both fs,max and f- are "ro"ortional to the magnitude of the normal force. The following em"irical laws of friction summari@e the ex"erimental observations; The magnitude of the force of static friction between any two surfaces in contact can have the values
fs
sn

45.16

where the dimensionless constant s is called the coef'cient of static friction and n is the magnitude of the normal force exerted by one surface on the other. The e(uality in E(uation 5.1 holds when the surfaces are on the verge of sli""ing, that is, when fs fs,max sn. This situation is called im"ending motion. The ine(uality holds when the surfaces are not on the verge of sli""ing. The magnitude of the force of -inetic friction acting between two surfaces is
fk
kn

45.06

where - is the coef'cient of -inetic friction. #lthough the coef'cient of -inetic friction can vary with s"eed, we shall usually neglect any such variations in this text. The values of - and s de"end on the nature of the surfaces, but - is generally less than s. Ty"ical values range from around +.+3 to *.+. Table 5. lists some re"orted values. The direction of the friction force on an object is "arallel to the surface with which the object is in contact and o""osite to the actual motion 4-inetic friction6 or the im"ending motion 4static friction6 of the object relative to the surface. The coef'cients of friction are nearly inde"endent of the area of contact between the surfaces. We might ex"ect that "lacing an object on the side having the most area might increase the friction force. While this "rovides more "oints in contact, as in Figure 5.*!a, the weight of the object is s"read

out over a larger area, so that the individual "oints are not "ressed so tightly together. These effects a""roximately com"ensate for each other, so that the friction force is inde"endent of the area.