Forces and Motion

Motion

Motion is an object’s change in position

relative to a reference point or frame of
reference.
 Speed and Velocity
 Speed describes how fast an object is moving
• Average speed = Distance / Time

 Velocity is speed and direction

• V = d/t

What is the velocity of a swimmer who swims

110meters towards the shore in 72 seconds?

• V = 110 / 72 = 1.5 m/s towards the shore

 Acceleration
Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes over
time. It’s a change of speed or direction.
Acceleration = Final V – Initial V
time

Jim accelerates his skateboard along a straight line from

8 m/s to 16 m/s in 3 seconds. What was his average
acceleration?

a = 16 – 8 = 8 =2.66 m/s2 along a line

3 3
 Force
A force is anything that changes the
state of rest or motion of an object.

 Balanced forces do not cause a change

in motion. An object will begin to
accelerate if the forces are unbalanced.
 Friction
 Friction is the force that opposes motion
between two surfaces that are in
contact.
 Static Friction – friction between
surfaces that are not moving.
 Kinetic Friction – friction between
moving surfaces.
 Reducing Friction
 Oil, wax, grease

 Ball bearings – replacing sliding friction with

rolling friction

 Make surfaces smoother.

 Streamlining – reduces friction with air/water

 Increasing Friction

 Make surfaces rougher

 Increase force pushing objects together

 Forces – Laws of Motion
Newton’s 1 Law
st

 “An object at rest or in motion will remain at

rest or in motion unless acted upon by an
outside force.”
 Often, this outside force for an object in motion
is friction and/or gravity. For an object at rest,
the force is often a push or pull
 Inertia is the tendency for an object at rest to
remain at rest or an object in motion to remain
in motion.
 Matter resists any change in motion
 Forces – Laws of Motion
Newton’s 2 Law
nd

 The acceleration of an object is directly

proportional to the force exerted on it and
inversely proportional to its mass.
 The harder you push on an object the faster it
will accelerate. The smaller the mass the
faster an object will accelerate.
 Force is measured in NEWTONS (N)
 Force = mass x acceleration
F = ma
 Forces – Laws of Motion
Newton’s 3 Law
rd

 For every action force there is an equal

and opposite reaction force.
 All forces act in pairs!!
 Gravity
 Gravity is the force of attraction between any
two objects
 How strong gravity is depends on:
– Mass of the objects – the gravititational force is
large when one or both objects have large
masses. Every piece of matter exerts a
gravititational force.
– Distance between two objects – the greater the
distance, the less the gravititational force
 Mass and Weight
 Mass is the amount of matter in an
object (grams)

 Weight is the measure of the pull of

gravity (Newton)
 Free Fall
 Free fall occurs when gravity is the only
force acting on an object. When an
object is dropped on earth its velocity
will increase until the force of air is
equal to gravity (called terminal velocity)