FORCE AND FRICTION

SCALARS AND VECTORS

A scalar is a quantity that has magnitude but no direction. Examples of scalar quantities are
speed, volume, and the number of pages in the textbook etc.
A vector is a physical quantity that has both direction and magnitude. Examples of vector
quantities are displacement, velocity, acceleration, and force etc.
DISPLACEMENT
As any object moves from one position to another, the length of the straight line drawn from
its initial position to its final position is called the displacement of the object.
Displacement is a change in position of the object.
Displacement = change in position = (final position) (initial position)
i.e. x = xf xi
A change in any quantity, indicated by the Greek symbol delta (), is equal to the final value
minus the initial value. When calculating displacement, always be sure to subtract the initial position
from the final position so that the answer has the correct sign.
Displacement is not always equal to the distance travelled. Displacement can be positive or
negative.
VELOCITY
Average velocity is displacement divided by the time interval.
The average velocity (vavg) is defined as the displacement divided by the time interval during
which the displacement occurred. In SI, the unit of velocity is meters per second, abbreviated as m/s.
The average velocity of an object can be positive or negative, depending on the sign of the
displacement, as the time interval is always positive.
Average velocity is not always equal to the average of the initial and final velocities. For
instance, if you drive first at 40 km/h west and later at 60 km/h west, your average velocity is not
necessarily 50 km/h west.
Velocity is not the same as speed. Velocity describes motion with both a direction and a
numerical value (a magnitude) indicating how fast something moves. But, speed has no direction, it
has only magnitude. An objects average speed is equal to the distance travelled divided by the time
interval for the motion.
Instantaneous velocity is the velocity of an object at some instant or at a specific point in
the objects path.

QUESTIONS
1. Heather and Matthew walk with an average velocity of 0.98 m/s eastward. If it takes them 34 min
to walk to the store, what is their displacement?
BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

2. If Joe rides his bicycle in a straight line for 15 min with an average velocity of 12.5 km/h south,
how far has he ridden?
3. It takes you 9.5 min to walk with an average velocity of 1.2 m/s to the north from the bus stop to
the museum entrance. What is your displacement?
4. Simpson drives his car with an average velocity of 48.0 km/h to the east. How long will it take him
to drive 144 km on a straight highway?
5. Look back at item 4.How much time would Simpson save by increasing his average velocity to
56.0 km/h to the east?
6. A bus travels 280 km south along a straight path with an average velocity of 88 km/h to the south.
The bus stops for 24 min. Then, it travels 210 km south with an average velocity of 75 km/h to the
south. a) How long does the total trip last? b) What is the average velocity for the total trip?
7. What is the shortest possible time in which a bacterium could travel a distance of 8.4 cm across a
Petri dish at a constant speed of 3.5 mm/s?
8. A child is pushing a shopping cart at a speed of 1.5 m/s. How long will it take this child to push
the cart down an aisle with a length of 9.3 m?
9. An athlete swims from the north end to the south end of a 50.0 m pool in 20.0 s and makes the
return trip to the starting position in 22.0 s. a) What is the average velocity for the first half of the
swim? b) What is the average velocity for the second half of the swim? c) What is the average velocity
for the roundtrip?
10. Two students walk in the same direction along a straight path, at a constant speedone at 0.90
m/s and the other at 1.90 m/s. a) Assuming that they start at the same point and the same time, how
much sooner does the faster student arrive at a destination 780 m away? b. How far would the students
have to walk so that the faster student arrives 5.50 min before the slower student?
11. Does knowing the distance between two objects give you enough information to locate the
objects? Explain.

ACCELERATION (CHANGES IN VELOCITY)

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with respect to time. Acceleration has both
direction and magnitude.
The magnitude of the average acceleration is calculated by dividing the total change in
velocity of the object by the time interval in which the change occurs.
We should watch for implied data in problems, such as the object starts from rest (which
means vi = 0 m/s) or the object comes to rest (means vf = 0 m/s).
A negative value for the acceleration does not always indicate a decrease in speed. For
example, if the train were moving in the negative direction, the acceleration would be negative when
the train gained speed to leave a station and positive when the train lost speed to enter a station.
Decreases in speed are sometimes called decelerations. Despite the sound of the name,
decelerations are really a special case of acceleration in which the magnitude of the velocityand
thus the speed decreases with time.

BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

Freely falling bodies undergo constant acceleration. If air resistance is disregarded, all objects
dropped near the surface of a planet fall with the same constant acceleration. This acceleration is
due to gravitational force, and the motion is referred to as free fall. The acceleration due to gravity is
denoted with the symbols ag (generally) or g (on the Earths surface). The magnitude of g is about
9.81 m/s2. It is constant during upward and downward motion. But, during upward motion its value
is taken as negative because it is opposite to the direction of motion.
QUESTIONS
1. A shuttle bus slows down with an average acceleration of -1.8 m/s2. How long does it take the bus
to slow from 9.0 m/s to a complete stop?
2. As the shuttle bus comes to a sudden stop to avoid hitting a dog, it accelerates uniformly at 4.1
m/s2 as it slows from 9.0 m/s to 0.0 m/s. Find the time interval of acceleration for the bus.
3. A car traveling at 7.0 m/s accelerates uniformly at 2.5 m/s2 to reach a speed of 12.0 m/s. How long
does it take for this acceleration to occur?
4. With an average acceleration of 1.2 m/s2, how long will it take a cyclist to bring a bicycle with
an initial speed of 6.5 m/s to a complete stop?
5. Turners treadmill runs with a velocity of 1.2 m/s and speeds up at regular intervals during a halfhour workout. After 25 min, the treadmill has a velocity of 6.5 m/s. What is the average acceleration
of the treadmill during this period?
6. Suppose a treadmill has an average acceleration of 4.7 103 m/s 2. a) How much does its speed
change after 5.0 min? b) If the treadmills initial speed is 1.7 m/s, what will its final speed be?

FORCE:
A force can cause a stationary object to move, as in throwing a ball. It also causes moving
objects to stop, as in catching a ball. A force can also cause a moving object to change direction, such
as when a ball collides with a bat and flies off in another direction.
In each of these cases, the force is responsible for a change in velocity with respect to time
an acceleration.
A force can therefore also be defined as an action exerted on an object which may change the
objects state of rest or motion. Because the effect of a force depends on both magnitude and direction,
force is a vector quantity.
The SI unit of force is the newton, named after Sir Isaac Newton (16421727), whose work
contributed much to the modern understanding of force and motion. The newton (N) is defined as the
amount of force that, when acting on a 1 kg mass, produces an acceleration of 1 m/s2. Therefore, 1
N =1 kg 1 m/s2.
Force can act either through the physical contact of two objects (we call such force contact
force) or at a distance (we call such force field force).
If we pull a spring, the spring stretches. If push a wagon, the wagon moves. When a football
is caught, its motion is stopped. These pushes and pulls are examples of contact forces, which are so
named because they result from physical contact between two objects.
Another class of forcescalled field forcesdoes not involve physical contact between two
objects. One example of this kind of force is gravitational force. Whenever an object falls to the Earth,
BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

the object is accelerated by Earths gravity. In other words, Earth exerts a force on the object even
when Earth is not in immediate physical contact with the object. Another common example of a field
force is the attraction or repulsion between electric charges. Magnetic force, resulting from atomic
phenomena, is also a field force.
The theory of fields was developed as a tool to explain how objects could exert force on each
other without touching. According to this theory, masses create gravitational fields in the space
around them. An object falls to Earth because of the interaction between the objects mass and Earths
gravitational field. Similarly, charged objects (and also magnets) create electromagnetic fields.
The distinction between contact forces and field forces is useful when dealing with forces that
we observe at the macroscopic level. Macroscopic refers to the realm of phenomena that are visible
to the naked eye. All macroscopic contact forces are actually due to microscopic field forces. For
instance, contact forces in a collision are due to electric fields between atoms and molecules. In fact,
every force can be categorized as one of four fundamental field forces the gravitational force, the
electromagnetic force, the weak nuclear force and the strong nuclear force.
The strong and weak nuclear forces have very small ranges, so their effects are not directly
observable. But, it is the strong nuclear force that holds the protons and the neutrons together in the
nucleus. And it is the weak nuclear force that is responsible for decay in radioactive atoms,
particularly in -decay. The electromagnetic and gravitational forces act over long ranges. Thus, any
force we can observe at the macroscopic level is either due to gravitational or electromagnetic forces.
The strong nuclear force is the strongest of all four fundamental forces. Gravity is the weakest.
Although the force due to gravity holds the planets, stars, and galaxies together, its effect on
objects of everyday life as well as on subatomic particles is negligible. This explains why electric and
magnetic effects can easily overcome gravity. For example, a bar magnet has the ability to lift another
magnet off a desk.

MASS
Mass of the object is the measure of amount of matter that it possess. Mass is a physical
quantity used to measure inertia.
The tendency of an object at rest to resist any motion when moved by an external force; or the
tendency of a moving object to resist any change in its speed or direction is called inertia.
In fact the inertia of an object is proportional to the objects mass. The greater the mass of an
object, the less the object accelerates under an applied force. Similarly, a light object undergoes a
larger acceleration than does a heavy object under the same force. Therefore, mass, which is a
measure of the amount of matter in an object, is also a measure of the inertia of an object.

EQUILIBRIUM
The net force acting on an object is the vector sum (sum/addition which accounts for both
magnitude and direction) of all external forces acting on the object. Net force is therefore a single
force whose external effects on an object are the same as the effects of several actual forces acting on
the body.
An object is in a state of equilibrium when the net force acting on the object is zero. Objects
that are either at rest or moving with constant velocity are said to be in equilibrium.
BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

NEWTONS LAWS OF MOTION

Newtons First Law:
An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion continues in motion with constant
velocity (or constant speed in a straight line) unless the object experiences a net external force.
Clearly, Newtons first law describes objects in equilibrium, whether they are at rest or
moving with a constant velocity. Newtons first law is often referred to as the law of inertia because
it states that in the absence of a net force, a body will preserve its state of motion. In other words,
Newtons first law says that when the net external force on an object is zero, the objects acceleration
(or the change in the objects velocity) is zero.
Newtons Second Law:
The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on the object and
inversely proportional to the objects mass.
Newtons second law relates force, mass, and acceleration. We may therefore say that net
force acting on an object is equal to the product of the objects mass and the objects acceleration.
Newtons Third Law:
If two objects interact, the magnitude of the force exerted on object 1 by object 2 is equal to
the magnitude of the force simultaneously exerted on object 2 by object 1, and these two forces are
opposite in direction.
An alternative statement of this law is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction. When two objects interact with one another, the forces that the objects exert on each other
are called an action-reaction pair. Forces always exist in such pairs, a single isolated force cannot
exist.
Newtons third law also applies to field forces. For example, consider the gravitational force
exerted by Earth on an object. According to Newtons third law, the force of the object on Earth is
equal to the force of Earth on the object. Thus, as a falling object accelerates toward Earth, Earth also
accelerates toward the object. The thought that Earth accelerates toward the object may seem to
contradict our experience. One way to make sense of this idea is to refer to Newtons second law.
The mass of Earth is much greater than that of the object. Therefore, while the dummys head
undergoes a large acceleration due to the force of Earth, the acceleration of Earth due to this reaction
force is negligibly small because of Earths enormous mass.
QUESTIONS:
1. If a car is traveling westward with a constant velocity of 20 m/s, what is the net force acting on the
car?
2. If a car is accelerating downhill under a net force of 3674 N, what additional force would cause the
car to have a constant velocity?
3. A 6.0 kg object undergoes an acceleration of 2.0 m/s2. a) What is the magnitude of the net force
acting on the object? b) If this same force is applied to a 4.0 kg object, what acceleration is produced?
4. Roberto and Laura are studying across from each other at a wide table. Laura slides a 2.2 kg book
toward Roberto. If the net force acting on the book is 1.6 N to the right, what is the books
acceleration?
BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

5. The net force on the propeller of a 3.2 kg model airplane is 7.0 N forward. What is the acceleration
of the airplane?
6. The net force on a golf cart is 390 N north. If the cart has a total mass of 270 kg, what are the
magnitude and direction of the carts acceleration?
7. A car has a mass of 1.50 103 kg. If the force acting on the car is 6.75 103 N to the east, what is
the cars acceleration?
8. A soccer ball kicked with a force of 13.5 N accelerates at 6.5 m/s2 to the right. What is the mass of
the ball?
9. A 2.0 kg otter starts from rest at the top of a muddy incline 85 cm long and slides down to the
bottom in 0.50 s. What net force acts on the otter along the incline?
10. Can an object be in equilibrium if only one force acts on the object?
11. A child causes a wagon to accelerate by pulling it with a horizontal force. Newtons third law
says that the wagon exerts an equal and opposite force on the child. How can the wagon accelerate?
12. If a small sports car collides head-on with a massive truck, which vehicle experiences the greater
impact force? Which vehicle experiences the greater acceleration? Explain your answers.
13. The force due to gravity is twice as great on a 2 kg rock as it is on a 1 kg rock. Why doesnt the
2 kg rock have a greater free-fall acceleration?
14. A truck loaded with sand accelerates at 0.5 m/s2 on the highway. If the driving force on the truck
remains constant, what happens to the trucks acceleration if sand leaks at a constant rate from a hole
in the truck bed?

WEIGHT
The weight of an object is the magnitude of the gravitational force on the object and is equal
to the objects mass times the acceleration due to gravity.
The gravitational force exerted on the object by Earth, Fg, is a vector quantity, directed toward
the center of Earth. The magnitude of this force, Fg, is a scalar quantity called weight. The weight of
an object can be calculated using the equation Fg = m ag, where ag is the magnitude of the acceleration
due to gravity, or free-fall acceleration. On the surface of Earth, ag = g, and Fg=mg. (g=9.81m/s2).
Weight, unlike mass, is not an inherent property of an object. Because it is equal to the
magnitude of the force due to gravity, weight depends on location. For example, if an astronaut
weighs 800 N (about 80 kg) on Earth, he would weigh only about 130 N (13 kg) on the moon.
The value of ag on the surface of a planet depends on the planets mass and radius. On the
moon, ag is about 1.6 m/s2much smaller than 9.81 m/s2.
Even on Earth, an objects weight may vary with location. Objects weigh less at higher
altitudes than they do at sea level because the value of ag decreases as distance from the surface of
Earth increases. The value of ag also varies slightly with changes in latitude.

NORMAL FORCE
It is the force exerted by the surface on the object.
BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

The normal force is always perpendicular to the contact surface but is not always opposite to
the direction of force due to gravity.

FRICTION FORCE
Friction is a resistive force that acts in a direction opposite to the direction of the relative
motion of two surfaces in contact.
Friction opposes the applied force. When the object is at rest, the only forces acting on it are
the force due to gravity and the normal force exerted by the surface where the object is placed. These
forces are equal and opposite, so the object is in equilibrium. When one pushes the object with a small
horizontal force F, the table exerts an equal force in the opposite direction. As a result, the object
remains in equilibrium and therefore it remains at rest. The resistive force that keeps the object from
moving is called the force of static friction, and is denoted as fs.
As long as the object does not move, the force of static friction is always equal to and opposite
in direction to the component of the applied force that is parallel to the surface (fs = Fapplied). As the
applied force increases, the force of static friction also increases; if the applied force decreases, the
force of static friction also decreases. When the applied force is as great as it can be without causing
the object to move, the force of static friction reaches its maximum value, fs,max.
When the applied force on the object exceeds fs,max, the object begins to move with an
acceleration in the direction of applied force. A frictional force is still acting on the object as the
object moves, but that force is actually less than fs,max. The retarding frictional force on an object in
motion is called the force of kinetic friction (fk). The magnitude of the net force acting on the object
is equal to the difference between the applied force and the force of kinetic friction (Fapplied fk).
The magnitude of the force of friction is approximately proportional to the magnitude of the
normal force that a surface exerts on an object. This is why it is easier to push a chair across the floor
at a constant speed than to push a heavy desk across the floor at the same speed. Because the desk is
heavier than the chair, the desk experiences a greater normal force and therefore it also experiences a
greater friction.
The force of friction also depends on the composition and qualities of the surfaces in contact.
For example, it is easier to push a desk across a tile floor than across a floor covered with carpet.
Although the normal force on the desk is the same in both cases, the force of friction between the
desk and the carpet is higher than the force of friction between the desk and the tile. The quantity that
expresses the dependence of frictional forces on the particular surfaces in contact is called the
coefficient of friction. The coefficient of friction is represented by the symbol , a Greek letter, read
as mu.
The coefficient of friction is defined as the ratio of the force of friction to the normal force
between two surfaces.
The coefficient of kinetic friction is the ratio of the force of kinetic friction to the normal force.
k =fk /FN
The coefficient of static friction is the ratio of the maximum value of the force of static friction
to the normal force.
s = fs,max /FN
BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

If the value of and the normal force (FN) on the object are known, then the magnitude of the
force of friction can be calculated directly as f = FN
There is yet another kind of friction force which acts on rolling objects (a rolling disc or
sphere) we call this as the force of rolling friction. Unlike other friction forces, it is not always
directed opposite to the direction of motion. It could either act in the direction in which the object is
rolling, or it could act in the direction opposite to the rolling motion, depending on the nature of
motion. The magnitude of rolling friction force is also determined from the nature of motion the
object is undergoing as it could take any value between zero and FN.
Air resistance is also a form of friction force. Whenever an object moves through a fluid
medium, such as air or water, the fluid provides a resistance to the objects motion.
Fluid is matter that tends to flow, and conform to the outline of its container - a liquid or a gas.
The frictional force exerted by fluids is also called drag.
The frictional force on an object in a fluid depends on its speed with respect to the fluid. The
frictional force also depends on the shape of the object and the nature of the fluid. Fluid friction can
be minimised by giving suitable shapes to bodies moving in fluids.
When an object falls through air, as a free-falling body it accelerates and its velocity increases.
As the velocity increases, the resistance of the air to the objects motion also constantly increases.
When the upward force of air resistance balances the downward gravitational force, the net force on
the object is zero and the object continues to move downward with a constant maximum speed, called
the terminal speed.
QUESTIONS:
1. A 24 kg crate initially at rest on a horizontal floor requires a 75 N horizontal force to set it in
motion. Find the coefficient of static friction between the crate and the floor. Once the crate is in
motion, a horizontal force of 53 N keeps the crate moving with a constant velocity. Find k, the
coefficient of kinetic friction, between the crate and the floor.
2. A 25 kg chair initially at rest on a horizontal floor requires a 165 N horizontal force to set it in
motion. Once the chair is in motion, a 127 N horizontal force keeps it moving at a constant velocity.
a) Find the coefficient of static friction between the chair and the floor.
b) Find the coefficient of kinetic friction between the chair and the floor.
3. A museum curator moves artifacts into place on various different display surfaces. Use the values
given below to find fs,max and fk for the following situations:
a) moving a 145 kg aluminium sculpture across a horizontal steel platform
b) pulling a 15 kg steel sword across a horizontal steel shield
c) pushing a 250 kg wood bed on a horizontal wood floor
d) sliding a 0.55 kg glass amulet on a horizontal glass display case
Coefficient of friction (approximate value)
s
k
Steel on steel
0.74
0.57
Aluminium on steel
0.61
0.47
Wood on wood
0.4
0.2
Glass on glass
0.9
0.4
4. What is the difference between weight and mass?

BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)

PRESSURE
Pressure is a measure of how much force is applied over a given area. It can be defined as the
magnitude of the force on the surface per unit area.
The SI unit of pressure is the pascal (Pa), which is equal to 1 N/m2.
The pascal is a small unit of pressure. The pressure of the atmosphere at sea level is about
1.01 105 Pa. This amount of air pressure under normal conditions is the basis for another unit, the
atmosphere (atm). For the purpose of calculating pressure, 105 Pa is about the same as 1 atm.
QUESTIONS:
1. A 1.5 m wide by 2.5 m long water bed weighs 1025 N. Find the pressure that the water bed exerts
on the floor. Assume that the entire lower surface of the bed makes contact with the floor.
2. Astronauts and cosmonauts have used pressurized spacesuits to explore the low-pressure regions
of space. The pressure inside one of these suits must be close to that of Earths atmosphere at sea
level so that the space explorer may be safe and comfortable. The pressure on the outside of the suit
is a fraction of 1.0 Pa. Clearly, pressurized suits are made of extremely sturdy material that can
tolerate the stress from these pressure differences. If the average interior surface area of a pressurized
spacesuit is 3.3 m2, what is the force exerted on the suits material? Assume that the pressure outside
the suit is zero and that the pressure inside the suit is 1.01 105 Pa.
3. A person rides up a lift to a mountaintop, but the persons ears fail to popthat is, the pressure
of the inner ear does not equalize with the outside atmosphere. The radius of each eardrum is 0.40
cm. The pressure of the atmosphere drops from 1.010 105 Pa at the bottom of the lift to 0.998 105
Pa at the top. a) What is the pressure difference between the inner and outer ear at the top of the
mountain? b) What is the magnitude of the net force on each eardrum?

BPs Academy (Call Us: 9422031727 / 9096989707)