FOCUS POINT

class IX FORCE AND LAWS OF MOTION

Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that, together, laid the foundation
for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between a body and the
forces acting upon it, and its motion in response to those forces. More precisely,
the first law defines the force qualitatively, the second law offers a quantitative
measure of the force, and the third asserts that a single isolated force doesn't
exist. These three laws have been expressed in several ways, over nearly three
centuries,[a] and can be summarised as follows:

First law
In an inertial frame of reference, an object either remains at rest or continues to
move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force.[2][3]
Second law
In an inertial frame of reference, the vector sum of the forces F on an object is
equal to the mass m of that object multiplied by the acceleration a of the object: F
= ma. (It is assumed here that the mass m is constant – see below.)
Third law
When one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body simultaneously
exerts a force equal in magnitude and opposite in direction on the first body.
The three laws of motion were first compiled by Isaac Newton in his Philosophiæ
Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy),
first published in 1687.[4] Newton used them to explain and investigate the motion
of many physical objects and systems.[5] For example, in the third volume of the
text, Newton showed that these laws of motion, combined with his law of
universal gravitation, explained Kepler's laws of planetary motion.
Some also describe a fourth law which states that forces add up like vectors, that
is, that forces obey the principle of superposition.[6][7][8]

Overview

Isaac Newton (1643–1727), the physicist who formulated the laws

Newton's laws are applied to objects which are idealised as single point masses,[9]
in the sense that the size and shape of the object's body are neglected to focus on
its motion more easily. This can be done when the object is small compared to the
distances involved in its analysis, or the deformation and rotation of the body are
of no importance. In this way, even a planet can be idealised as a particle for
analysis of its orbital motion around a star.

In their original form, Newton's laws of motion are not adequate to characterise
the motion of rigid bodies and deformable bodies. Leonhard Euler in 1750
introduced a generalisation of Newton's laws of motion for rigid bodies called
Euler's laws of motion, later applied as well for deformable bodies assumed as a
continuum. If a body is represented as an assemblage of discrete particles, each
governed by Newton's laws of motion, then Euler's laws can be derived from
Newton's laws. Euler's laws can, however, be taken as axioms describing the laws
of motion for extended bodies, independently of any particle structure.[10]

Newton's laws hold only with respect to a certain set of frames of reference called
Newtonian or inertial reference frames. Some authors interpret the first law as
defining what an inertial reference frame is; from this point of view, the second
law holds only when the observation is made from an inertial reference frame, and
therefore the first law cannot be proved as a special case of the second. Other
authors do treat the first law as a corollary of the second.[11][12] The explicit
concept of an inertial frame of reference was not developed until long after
Newton's death.

In the given interpretation mass, acceleration, momentum, and (most importantly)

force are assumed to be externally defined quantities. This is the most common,
but not the only interpretation of the way one can consider the laws to be a
definition of these quantities.

Newtonian mechanics has been superseded by special relativity, but it is still useful
as an approximation when the speeds involved are much slower than the speed of
light.[13]

Laws
One translation of Newton's laws reads:

Law I: Every body persists in its state of being at rest or of moving uniformly
straight forward, except insofar as it is compelled to change its state by force
impressed.[14][b]

Law II: The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impress'd;
and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impress'd.[15][c]

Law III: To every action there is always opposed an equal reaction: or the mutual
actions of two bodies upon each other are always equal, and directed to contrary
parts.[d][e]
Newton's first law
Main article: Inertia
The first law states that if the net force (the vector sum of all forces acting on an
object) is zero, then the velocity of the object is constant. Velocity is a vector
quantity which expresses both the object's speed and the direction of its motion;
therefore, the statement that the object's velocity is constant is a statement that
both its speed and the direction of its motion are constant.

The first law can be stated mathematically when the mass is a non-zero constant,
as,

An object that is at rest will stay at rest unless a force acts upon it.
An object that is in motion will not change its velocity unless a force acts upon it.
This is known as uniform motion. An object continues to do whatever it happens to
be doing unless a force is exerted upon it. If it is at rest, it continues in a state of
rest (demonstrated when a tablecloth is skilfully whipped from under dishes on a
tabletop and the dishes remain in their initial state of rest). If an object is moving,
it continues to move without turning or changing its speed. This is evident in space
probes that continuously move in outer space. Changes in motion must be
imposed against the tendency of an object to retain its state of motion. In the
absence of net forces, a moving object tends to move along a straight line path
indefinitely.

Newton placed the first law of motion to establish frames of reference for which
the other laws are applicable. However, Newton implicitly referred to the absolute
co-ordinate of cosmos for this frame. Since we cannot precisely measure our
velocity relative to a far star, Newton's frame is based on a pure imagination, not
based on measurable physics. In current physics, an observer defines himself as in
inertial frame by preparing one stone hooked by a spring, and rotating the spring
to any direction, and observing the stone static and the length of that spring
unchanged. By Einstein's equivalence principle, if there was one such observer A
and another observer B moving in a constant velocity related to A, then A and B
will both observe the same physics phenomena. If A verified the first law, then B
will verify it too. In this way, the definition of inertial can get rid of absolute space
or far star, and only refer to the objects locally reachable and measurable.

A particle not subject to forces moves (related to inertial frame) in a straight line at
a constant speed.[11][17] Newton's first law is often referred to as the law of
inertia. Thus, a condition necessary for the uniform motion of a particle relative to
an inertial reference frame is that the total net force acting on it is zero. In this
sense, the first law can be restated as:

In every material universe, the motion of a particle in a preferential reference

frame Φ is determined by the action of forces whose total vanished for all times
when and only when the velocity of the particle is constant in Φ. That is, a particle
initially at rest or in uniform motion in the preferential frame Φ continues in that
state unless compelled by forces to change it.[18]

Newton's first and second laws are valid only in an inertial reference frame. Any
reference frame that is in uniform motion with respect to an inertial frame is also
an inertial frame, i.e. Galilean invariance or the principle of Newtonian
relativity.[19]
Newton's second law
The second law states that the rate of change of momentum of a body is directly
proportional to the force applied, and this change in momentum takes place in the
direction of the applied force.

The second law can also be stated in terms of an object's acceleration. Since
Newton's second law is valid only for constant-mass systems,[20][21][22] m can be
taken outside the differentiation operator by the constant factor rule in
differentiation. Thus,
where F is the net force applied, m is the mass of the body, and a is the body's
acceleration. Thus, the net force applied to a body produces a proportional
acceleration. In other words, if a body is accelerating, then there is a force on it.

The above statements hint that the second law is merely a definition of
{\displaystyle \mathbf {F} }\mathbf {F} , not a precious observation of nature.
However, current physics restate the second law in measurable steps: (1)defining
the term 'one unit of mass' by a specified stone, (2)defining the term 'one unit of
force' by a specified spring with specified length, (3)measuring by experiment or
proving by theory (with a principle that every direction of space are equivalent),
that force can be added as a mathematical vector, (4)finally conclude that }. These
steps hint the second law is a precious feature of nature.

The second law also implies the conservation of momentum: when the net force
on the body is zero, the momentum of the body is constant. Any net force is equal
to the rate of change of the momentum.

Any mass that is gained or lost by the system will cause a change in momentum
that is not the result of an external force. A different equation is necessary for
variable-mass systems (see below).
Newton's second law is an approximation that is increasingly worse at high speeds
because of relativistic effects.

According to modern ideas of how Newton was using his terminology,[23] the law
is understood, in modern terms, as an equivalent of:

The change of momentum of a body is proportional to the impulse impressed on

the body, and happens along the straight line on which that impulse is impressed.

Motte's 1729 translation of Newton's Latin continued with Newton's commentary

on the second law of motion, reading:

If a force generates a motion, a double force will generate double the motion, a
triple force triple the motion, whether that force be impressed altogether and at
once, or gradually and successively. And this motion (being always directed the
same way with the generating force), if the body moved before, is added to or
subtracted from the former motion, according as they directly conspire with or are
directly contrary to each other; or obliquely joined, when they are oblique, so as to
produce a new motion compounded from the determination of both.

The sense or senses in which Newton used his terminology, and how he
understood the second law and intended it to be understood, have been
extensively discussed by historians of science, along with the relations between
Newton's formulation and modern formulations.[24]
Impulse
An impulse J occurs when a force F acts over an interval of time Δt, and it is given
by[25][26]

The falsehood of this formula can be seen by noting that it does not respect
Galilean invariance: a variable-mass object with F = 0 in one frame will be seen to
have F ≠ 0 in another frame.[20] The correct equation of motion for a body whose
mass m varies with time by either ejecting or accreting mass is obtained by
applying the second law to the entire, constant-mass system consisting of the body
and its ejected/accreted mass; the result is[20]

Newton's third law

An illustration of Newton's third law in which two skaters push against each other.
The first skater on the left exerts a normal force N12 on the second skater directed
towards the right, and the second skater exerts a normal force N21 on the first
skater directed towards the left.
The magnitudes of both forces are equal, but they have opposite directions, as
dictated by Newton's third law.
The third law states that all forces between two objects exist in equal magnitude
and opposite direction: if one object A exerts a force FA on a second object B, then
B simultaneously exerts a force FB on A, and the two forces are equal in magnitude
and opposite in direction: FA = −FB.[29] The third law means that all forces are
interactions between different bodies,[30][31] or different regions within one
body, and thus that there is no such thing as a force that is not accompanied by an
equal and opposite force. In some situations, the magnitude and direction of the
forces are determined entirely by one of the two bodies, say Body A; the force
exerted by Body A on Body B is called the "action", and the force exerted by Body B
on Body A is called the "reaction". This law is sometimes referred to as the action-
reaction law, with FA called the "action" and FB the "reaction". In other situations
the magnitude and directions of the forces are determined jointly by both bodies
and it isn't necessary to identify one force as the "action" and the other as the
"reaction". The action and the reaction are simultaneous, and it does not matter
which is called the action and which is called reaction; both forces are part of a
single interaction, and neither force exists without the other.[29]

The two forces in Newton's third law are of the same type (e.g., if the road exerts a
forward frictional force on an accelerating car's tires, then it is also a frictional
force that Newton's third law predicts for the tires pushing backward on the road).

From a conceptual standpoint, Newton's third law is seen when a person walks:
they push against the floor, and the floor pushes against the person. Similarly, the
tires of a car push against the road while the road pushes back on the tires—the
tires and road simultaneously push against each other. In swimming, a person
interacts with the water, pushing the water backward, while the water
simultaneously pushes the person forward—both the person and the water push
against each other. The reaction forces account for the motion in these examples.
These forces depend on friction; a person or car on ice, for example, may be
unable to exert the action force to produce the needed reaction force.[32]

Newton used the third law to derive the law of conservation of momentum;[33]
from a deeper perspective, however, conservation of momentum is the more
fundamental idea (derived via Noether's theorem from Galilean invariance), and
holds in cases where Newton's third law appears to fail, for instance when force
fields as well as particles carry momentum, and in quantum mechanics.

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