By Emma Hoyes

What is a force?
A force is a push or pull action on an object
resulting from the object's interaction with
another object. Whenever there is an
interaction 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 exist as a result
of an interaction. There are two types of
forces, contact forces and non-contact forces
or otherwise known as action-at-a-distanceforces (The Physics Classroom, 2015).

Contact Forces
Contact forces are those types of forces that result
when the two interacting objects are perceived to be
physically contacting each other. Examples of contact
forces include frictional forces, tensional forces,
normal forces, air resistance forces, and applied
forces. An example of contact force in everyday life
can be pushing a car up a hill, moving a chair and
kicking a ball. In some cases such as pushing a car up
a hill, the force is continuous. Whereas force is
delivered in a short impulse when kicking a ball.

Non-contact Forces
Non- contact forces are forces that
pull or push on an object without
touching them (Victoria State
Government Education and Training,
2014). The three types of noncontact forces are
Magnetism
Electrostatic
Gravity

Magnetism
Magnetism is a phenomena that exerts a special
force on other magnets or substances made up of
iron. This force is also called magnetic force which is
a kind of non-contact force as the materials just
need to be in the vicinity of the magnet. An example
of this is Iron pins at vicinity of a magnet attracts
without any physical contact (Victoria State
Government Education and Training, 2014).

Electrostatic force
Electrostatic force involves attraction and repulsion of
charges and is another type of non-contact force.
Some materials have the special property of
developing a charge on their surface when they are
rubbed, such as amber. These materials then attract
opposite charges and hence display the property of
electrostatics (Victoria State Government Education
and Training, 2014).

Gravity
Gravitational force is a force that attracts any object with mass.
Every object, including you, is pulling on every other object in
the entire universe! This is called Newton's Universal Law of
Gravitation. On Earth, the largest object is the Earth itself, so all
objects are attracted or pulled towards it. When you sit down for
dinner, for example, you are affected by the gravitational forces
of your plate, fork, spaghetti Bolognese, people sitting next to
you and the Earth. Earth is the largest object, so its gravitational
force will be the strongest. The gravitational forces between you,
your dinner and the people sitting next to you will be very weak
(Victoria State Government Education and Training, 2014).

References
Pictures- Google Images
Victoria State Government Education and Training (2014).
Electrostatics: A non-contact force. Retrieved from:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingr
esources/discipline/science/continuum/pages/electrostatic
s.aspx#4
Victoria State Government Education and Training( 2014).
Magnetism: A non-contact force. Retrieved from:
http://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingr
esources/discipline/science/continuum/Pages/magnetism.a
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