1.

A force is a push or pull upon an object resulting from the object's interaction with another
object. Whenever there is aninteraction between two objects, there is a force upon each of the
objects. When the interaction ceases, the two objects no longer experience the force.
Forces only exist as a result of an interaction.

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-2/The-Meaning-of-Force

2. Contact Forces Action-at-a-Distance Forces

Frictional Force Gravitational Force
Tension Force Electrical Force
Normal Force Magnetic Force
Air Resistance Force
Applied Force
Spring Force

http://www.physicsclassroom.com/class/newtlaws/Lesson-2/Types-of-Forces

Type of Force (and Symbol)

Applied Force Fapp

An applied force is a force that is applied to an object by a person or another object. If a person is
pushing a desk across the room, then there is an applied force acting upon the object. The applied force
is the force exerted on the desk by the person.

Gravity Force (also known as Weight) Fgrav

The force of gravity is the force with which the earth, moon, or other massively large object attracts
another object towards itself. By definition, this is the weight of the object. All objects upon earth
experience a force of gravity that is directed "downward" towards the center of the earth. The force of
gravity on earth is always equal to the weight of the object as found by the equation:

Fgrav = m * g

where g = 9.8 N/kg (on Earth)

and m = mass (in kg)

(Caution: do not confuse weight with mass.)

Normal Force Fnorm

The normal force is the support force exerted upon an object that is in contact with another stable
object. For example, if a book is resting upon a surface, then the surface is exerting an upward force
upon the book in order to support the weight of the book. On occasions, a normal force is exerted
horizontally between two objects that are in contact with each other. For instance, if a person leans
against a wall, the wall pushes horizontally on the person.

Friction Force Ffrict

The friction force is the force exerted by a surface as an object moves across it or makes an effort to
move across it. There are at least two types of friction force - sliding and static friction. Though it is not
always the case, the friction force often opposes the motion of an object. For example, if a book slides
across the surface of a desk, then the desk exerts a friction force in the opposite direction of its motion.
Friction results from the two surfaces being pressed together closely, causing intermolecular attractive
forces between molecules of different surfaces. As such, friction depends upon the nature of the two
surfaces and upon the degree to which they are pressed together. The maximum amount of friction
force that a surface can exert upon an object can be calculated using the formula below:

Ffrict = µ • Fnorm

The friction force is discussed in more detail later on this page.

Air Resistance Force Fair

The air resistance is a special type of frictional force that acts upon objects as they travel through the air.
The force of air resistance is often observed to oppose the motion of an object. This force will frequently
be neglected due to its negligible magnitude (and due to the fact that it is mathematically difficult to
predict its value). It is most noticeable for objects that travel at high speeds (e.g., a skydiver or a
downhill skier) or for objects with large surface areas.

Tension Force Ftens

The tension force is the force that is transmitted through a string, rope, cable or wire when it is pulled
tight by forces acting from opposite ends. The tension force is directed along the length of the wire and
pulls equally on the objects on the opposite ends of the wire.

Spring Force Fspring

The spring force is the force exerted by a compressed or stretched spring upon any object that is
attached to it. An object that compresses or stretches a spring is always acted upon by a force that
restores the object to its rest or equilibrium position. For most springs (specifically, for those that are
said to obey "Hooke's Law"), the magnitude of the force is directly proportional to the amount of stretch
or compression of the spring.

3. Drawing Free-Body Diagrams

Free-body diagrams are diagrams used to show the relative

magnitude and direction of all forces acting upon an object in a given situation. A free-
body diagram is a special example of the vector diagrams that were discussed in an
earlier unit. These diagrams will be used throughout our study of physics. The size of
the arrow in a free-body diagram reflects the magnitude of the force. The direction of
the arrow shows the direction that the force is acting. Each force arrow in the diagram
is labeled to indicate the exact type of force. It is generally customary in a free-body
diagram to represent the object by a box and to draw the force arrow from the center
of the box outward in the direction that the force is acting. An example of a free-body
diagram is shown at the right.
The free-body diagram above depicts four forces acting upon the object. Objects
do not necessarily always have four forces acting upon them. There will be cases in
which the number of forces depicted by a free-body diagram will be one, two, or three.
There is no hard and fast rule about the number of forces that must be drawn in a free-
body diagram. The only rule for drawing free-body diagrams is to depict all the forces
that exist for that object in the given situation. Thus, to construct free-body diagrams, it
is extremely important to know the various types of forces. If given a description of a
physical situation, begin by using your understanding of the force types to identify
which forces are present. Then determine the direction in which each force is acting.
Finally, draw a box and add arrows for each existing force in the appropriate direction;
label each force arrow according to its type. If necessary, refer to the list of forces and
their description in order to understand the various force types and their appropriate
symbols.
 We Would Like to Suggest ...

Sometimes it isn't enough to just read about it. You have to

interact with it! And that's exactly what you do when you use one of The Physics Classroom's
Interactives. We would like to suggest that you combine the reading of this page with the use
of our Free-Body Diagram Interactive. You can find it in the Physics Interactives section of our
website. The Free-Body Diagram Interactive allows a learner to practice identifying the forces
that act upon an object and to express such an understanding by the construction of a free-
body diagram.

4. Newton's first law of motion (law of inertia) is often stated as

An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and
in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

What does this mean?

This means that there is a natural tendency of objects

to keep on doing what they're doing. All objects resist
changes in their state of motion. In the absence of an
unbalanced force, an object in motion will maintain this
state of motion.
 According to Newton's second law...

Acceleration is produced when a force acts on a mass. The

greater the mass (of the object being accelerated) the
greater the amount of force needed (to accelerate the
object).

What does this mean?

Everyone unconsiously knows the Second Law. Everyone

knows that heavier objects require more force to move the
same distance as lighter objects.

However, the Second Law gives us an exact relationship between force,

mass, and acceleration. It can be expressed as a mathematical
equation:

or
FORCE = MASS times ACCELERATION

According to Newton's third law...

 For every action there is an equal and opposite
re-action.

What does this mean?

This means that for every force there is a reaction force that is equal
in size, but opposite in direction. That is to say that whenever an
object pushes another object it gets pushed back in the opposite
direction equally hard.

http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/Newton/