MECHANICS

CHAPTER4: NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION

Contains……………….
4.1 Force and Interactions
4.2 Newton’s First Law
4.3 Newton’s Second Law
4.4 Mass and Weight
4.5 Newton’s Third Law
4.6 Free-Body Diagrams
4.7 Using Newton’s First Law: Particles in Equilibrium
4.8 Using Newton’s Second Law: Dynamics of Particles

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 Goals for Chapter 4

• To understand the meaning of force in physics

• To view force as a vector and learn how to
combine forces
• To understand the behavior of a body on which the
forces “balance”:

• Newton’s First Law of Motion:

if there is no NET force on an object it will
remain in the same state of motion

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 Goals for Chapter 4

• To learn the relationship between mass,

acceleration, and force:

Newton’s Second Law of Motion: F = ma

a = F/m

• To relate mass (quantity of matter) and weight

(force on that matter from gravity)

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 Goals for Chapter 4

• To see the effect of action-reaction pairs:

Newton’s Third Law of Motion
Force on object a from object b

is EQUAL in magnitude
(and opposite in direction) to
Force on object b from object a

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 What are some properties of a force?

• A force is a push or a pull

• A force is an interaction between two objects, or
between an object and its environment
• A force is a VECTOR quantity, with magnitude and
direction.

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 There are four common types of forces

• #1: The normal force:

When an object pushes on a surface, the surface

pushes back on the object perpendicular to the
surface.
• This is a contact force.

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 There are four common types of forces

• #2: Friction force:

This force occurs when a surface resists sliding

of an object and is parallel to the surface.
• Friction is a contact force.

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 There are four common types of forces II

• #3: Tension force:

A pulling force exerted on an object by a rope or
cord.
• This is a contact force.

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 There are four common types of forces II

• #4: Weight:

The pull of gravity on an object.

• This is a long-range force, not a contact force, and is also

a “field” force.

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 What are the magnitudes of common forces?

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 Drawing force vectors

• Use a vector arrow to indicate the magnitude

and direction of the force.

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 Superposition of forces
• Several forces acting at a point on an object have
the same effect as their vector sum acting at the
same point.

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 Decomposing a force into its component vectors
• Choose coordinate system with perpendicular x and y axes.
• Fx and Fy are components of force along axes.
• Use trigonometry to find force components.

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 Notation for the vector sum
• Vector sum of all forces on an object is resultant of forces
• The net force.

    
   =  F
R= F1+ F2 + F3+

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 Superposition of forces
• Force vectors are added using components:
Rx = F1x + F2x + F3x + …
Ry = F1y + F2y + F3y + …

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 Newton’s First Law

“An object at rest tends

to stay at rest, an object
in motion tends to stay
in uniform motion.”

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 Newton’s First Law

Mathematically,

“A body acted on by
zero net force moves
with constant velocity
and zero
acceleration.”

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Newton’s First Law II

• In part (a) net force acts,

causing acceleration.

• In part (b) net force = 0

resulting in no
acceleration.

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 When is Newton’s first law valid?

• You are on roller skates

in a stopped BART
car…
• The car starts to
accelerate forwards.
• What happens to you?
• If no net force acts on
you, you maintain a
constant velocity (0!)

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 • Suppose you are in a bus that is traveling on a
straight road and speeding up. If you could
stand in the aisle on roller skates, you would
start moving backward relative to the bus as the
bus gains speed. If instead the bus was slowing
to a stop, you would start moving forward down
the aisle. In either case, it looks as though
Newton’s first law is not obeyed; there is no net
force acting on you, yet your velocity change.
What wrong?

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 When is Newton’s first law valid?

• You are on roller skates

in a moving BART car…
• The car starts to slow -
accelerate backwards.
• What happens to you?
• If no net force acts on
you, you maintain a
constant velocity

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 When is Newton’s first law valid?
• If no net force acts on you,
you maintains a constant
velocity (a vector!)
• But as seen in the non-
inertial frame of the
accelerating vehicle, it
appears that you are being
pushed to the outside!
• Newton’s first law is valid
only in non-accelerating
inertial frames.

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 Inertial frame of reference

The bus is accelerating with respect to the earth

and in not a suitable frame of reference for
Newton’s 1st law. A frame of reference in which
Newton's 1st law is valid is called an inertial
frame of reference. The earth is at least
approximately an inertial frame of reference, but
the bus is not.
Because Newton’s first law is used to determine
what we mean by an inertial frame of reference,
it is sometimes called the law of inertia.

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 Newton’s Second Law
• If the net force on an object is zero, the object will not accelerate.

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 Newton’s Second Law
• If the net force on an object is not zero, it causes the object to accelerate.

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 Newton’s Second Law
• If the net force on an object is not zero, it causes the object to accelerate.

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 An object undergoing uniform circular motion

• An object in uniform
circular motion is
accelerated toward
the center of the
circle.
• So net force on
object must point
toward the center of
the circle.

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 Force and acceleration
• Magnitude of acceleration
of an object is directly
proportional
 to the net force
 F on the object.
• | a| = F/m

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 Mass and acceleration
• Magnitude of acceleration
of an object is
inversely proportional
to object’s mass if net
force remains fixed.


• |a | = F/m

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 Newton’s second law of motion

• The acceleration of an object is directly

proportional to the net force acting on it, and
inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
 
 F  ma
• The SI unit for force is the newton (N).
1 N = 1 kg·m/s2

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 Using Newton’s Second Law Ex. 4.4
• Worker pushes box of mass 40 kg, with constant
force of 20N. What is acceleration?

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 Using Newton’s Second Law Ex. 4.4

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 Mass and weight

• The weight of an object (on Earth) is

gravitational force that Earth exerts on it.
• The weight W of an object of mass m is
W = mg
• The value of g depends on altitude.
• On other planets, g will have an entirely
different value than on the earth.

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 A coin in free fall

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 Newton’s Third Law
• If you exert a force on a body, the body always
exerts a force (the “reaction”) back upon you.
• A force and its reaction
force have the same
magnitude but
opposite directions.
• These forces act on
different bodies.

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 Applying Newton’s Third Law: Objects at rest
• An apple rests on a table. Identify the forces that act
on it and the action-reaction pairs. [Follow
Conceptual Example 4.9]

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 Applying Newton’s Third Law: Objects in motion
• A person pulls on a block across the floor. Identify
the action-reaction pairs. [Follow Conceptual
Example 4.10]

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 A paradox?
• If an object pulls back on you just as hard as you
pull on it, how can it ever accelerate?

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 Free-body diagrams—Figure 4.30
• A free-body diagram is a sketch showing all the forces acting
on an object.

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1st Law – An object at rest will stay at rest, and an
object in motion will stay in motion at constant
velocity, unless acted upon by an unbalanced
force.
2nd Law –The acceleration of an object is directly
proportional to the net force acting on it, and
inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
3rd Law – For every action there is an equal and
opposite reaction.

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a force is any interaction that will change the
motion of an object. In other words, a force can
cause an object with mass to change its
velocity. A force has both magnitude and
direction, making it a vector quantity. It is
measured in the SI unit of newton and
represented by the symbol F.

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