Physics 111: Mechanics Lecture

Dale Gary
NJIT Physics Department
 The Laws of Motion
 Newton’s first law
 Force
 Mass
 Newton’s second law
 Newton’s third law
 Examples
Isaac Newton’s work represents one of the
greatest contributions to science ever made
by an individual.
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 Dynamics
 Describes the relationship between the motion
of objects in our everyday world and the forces
acting on them
 Language of Dynamics
 Force: The measure of interaction between two ob-
jects (pull or push). It is a vector quantity – it has a
magnitude and direction
 Mass: The measure of how difficult it is to change ob-
ject’s velocity (sluggishness or inertia of the object)

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 Forces
 The measure of interaction be-
tween two objects (pull or
push)
 Vector quantity: has magnitude
and direction
 May be a contact force or a field
force
 Contact forces result from physical
contact between two objects
 Field forces act between discon-
nected objects
 Also called “action at a distance”

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 Forces

 Gravitational Force
 Archimedes Force
 Friction Force
 Tension Force
 Spring Force
 Normal Force

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 Vector Nature of Force
 Vector force: has magnitude and direction
 Net Force: a resultant force acting on object

 You must use the rules of vector addition to obtain the

net force on an object

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 Newton’s First Law
 An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an
object in motion tends to stay in motion with
the same speed and in the same direction
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force

 An object at rest remains at rest as long as no net force acts on it

 An object moving with constant velocity continues to move with
the same speed and in the same direction (the same velocity) as
long as no net force acts on it
 “Keep on doing what it is doing”

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 Newton’s First Law
 An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an
object in motion tends to stay in motion with
the same speed and in the same direction
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force

 When forces are balanced, the acceleration of the object is zero

 Object at rest: v = 0 and a = 0
 Object in motion: v  0 and a = 0

 The net force is defined as the vector sum of all the external forces
exerted on the object. If the net force is zero, forces are balanced.
When forces are balances, the object can be stationary, or move
with constant velocity.

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 Mass and Inertia
 Every object continues in its state of rest, or uniform mo-
tion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change
that state by unbalanced forces impressed upon it
 Inertia is a property of objects
to resist changes is motion!
 Mass is a measure of the
amount of inertia.
 Mass is a measure of the resistance of an object to
changes in its velocity
 Mass is an inherent property of an object
 Scalar quantity and SI unit: kg

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 Newton’s Second Law
 The acceleration of an object is directly
proportional to the net force acting on it
and inversely proportional to its mass

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 Units of Force
 Newton’s second law:

 SI unit of force is a Newton (N)

 US Customary unit of force is a pound (lb)

 1 N = 0.225 lb

 Weight, also measured in lbs. is a force (mass x accelera-

tion). What is the acceleration in that case?

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 More about Newton’s 2nd Law
 You must be certain about which body we are applying it
to
 F must be the vector sum of all the forces that act on
net
that body
 Only forces that act on that body are to be included in the
vector sum
 Net force component along an
axis gives rise to the acceleration
along that same axis

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 Sample Problem
 One or two forces act on a puck that moves over frictionless ice along an x
axis, in one-dimensional motion. The puck's mass is m = 0.20 kg. Forces F1
and F2 and are directed along the x axis and have magnitudes F1 = 4.0 N
and F2 = 2.0 N. Force F3 is directed at angle q = 30° and has magnitude F3
= 1.0 N. In each situation, what is the acceleration of the puck?

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 Gravitational Force
 Gravitational force is a vector
 Expressed by Newton’s Law of Universal Gravita-
tion:

 G – gravitational constant
 M – mass of the Earth
 m – mass of an object
 R – radius of the Earth
 Direction: pointing downward

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 Weight
 The magnitude of the gravitational force acting on an object of
mass m near the Earth’s surface is called the weight w of the
object: w = mg
 g can also be found from the Law of Universal Gravitation
 Weight has a unit of N

 Weight depends upon location

R = 6,400 km
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 Normal Force
 Force from a solid sur-
face which keeps object
from falling through
 Direction: always per-
pendicular to the sur-
face
 Magnitude: depends on
situation

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 Tension Force: T
 A taut rope exerts forces
on whatever holds its ends
 Direction: always along the
cord (rope, cable, string
……) and away from the ob-
ject T1
 Magnitude: depend on sit- T1 = T = T2
uation T2

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 Newton’s Third Law
 If object 1 and object 2 interact, the force ex-
erted by object 1 on object 2 is equal in magni-
tude but opposite in direction to the force ex-
erted by object 2 on object 1

 Equivalent to saying a single isolated force cannot exist

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 Newton’s Third Law cont.
 F12 may be called the ac-
tion force and F21 the re-
action force
 Actually, either force can be
the action or the reaction
force
 The action and reaction
forces act on different ob-
jects

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Some Action-Reaction Pairs

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 Free Body Diagram
 The most important step in
solving problems involving F hand on book
Newton’s Laws is to draw the
free body diagram
 Be sure to include only the
forces acting on the object of
interest
F Earth on book
 Include any field forces act-
ing on the object
 Do not assume the normal
force equals the weight

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 Hints for Problem-Solving
 Read the problem carefully at least once
 Draw a picture of the system, identify the object of primary interest,
and indicate forces with arrows
 Label each force in the picture in a way that will bring to mind what
physical quantity the label stands for (e.g., T for tension)
 Draw a free-body diagram of the object of interest, based on the la-
beled picture. If additional objects are involved, draw separate free-
body diagram for them
 Choose a convenient coordinate system for each object
 Apply Newton’s second law. The x- and y-components of Newton
second law should be taken from the vector equation and written in-
dividually. This often results in two equations and two unknowns
 Solve for the desired unknown quantity, and substitute the numbers

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 Objects in Equilibrium
 Objects that are either at rest or moving with con-
stant velocity are said to be in equilibrium
 Acceleration of an object can be modeled as zero:
 Mathematically, the net force acting on the object is
zero
 Equivalent to the set of component equations given
by

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 Equilibrium, Example 1
 A lamp is suspended from a
chain of negligible mass
 The forces acting on the lamp
are
 the downward force of gravity
 the upward tension in the chain
 Applying equilibrium gives

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 Equilibrium, Example 2
 A traffic light weighing 100 N hangs from a vertical cable tied
to two other cables that are fastened to a support. The upper
cables make angles of 37° and 53° with the horizontal. Find
the tension in each of the three cables.
 Conceptualize the traffic light
 Assume cables don’t break
 Nothing is moving
 Categorize as an equilibrium problem
 No movement, so acceleration is zero
 Model as an object in equilibrium

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 Equilibrium, Example 2
 Need 2 free-body diagrams
 Apply equilibrium equation to light

 Apply equilibrium equations to knot

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 Accelerating Objects
 If an object that can be modeled as a particle
experiences an acceleration, there must be a
nonzero net force acting on it
 Draw a free-body diagram
 Apply Newton’s Second Law in component form

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Accelerating Objects, Example 1
 A man weighs himself with a scale in an elevator. While the el-
evator is at rest, he measures a weight of 800 N.
 What weight does the scale read if the elevator accelerates upward at
2.0 m/s2? a = 2.0 m/s2
 What weight does the scale read if the elevator accelerates downward
at 2.0 m/s2? a = - 2.0 m/s2
 Upward: N
N

 Downward:
mg mg
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