The Laws of Motion

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The Concept of Force

• If the net force exerted on an object is zero, the acceleration of the

object is zero and its velocity remains constant.
• When the velocity of an object is constant (including when the object
is at rest), the object is said to be in equilibrium.
• The object accelerates only if the net force acting on it is not equal to
zero.
• The net force acting on an object is defined as the vector sum of all
forces acting on the object.

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The Concept of Force

• If the net force exerted on an object is zero, the acceleration of the

object is zero and its velocity remains constant.
• When the velocity of an object is constant (including when the object
is at rest), the object is said to be in equilibrium.
• The object accelerates only if the net force acting on it is not equal to
zero.
• The net force acting on an object is defined as the vector sum of all
forces acting on the object.

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 Some
examples
of applied
forces.

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 Measuring the
Strength of a Force
• Because forces have been experimentally verified to behave as
vectors, you must use the rules of vector addition to obtain the net
force on an object.

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 Newton’s First Law
and Inertial Frames
• In the absence of external forces, when viewed from an inertial
reference frame, an object at rest remains at rest and an object in
motion continues in motion with a constant velocity (that is, with a
constant speed in a straight line).

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 Mass

• Mass is that property of an object that

specifies how much resistance an object
exhibits to changes in its velocity.
• Mass is an inherent property of an object
and is independent of the object’s
surroundings and of the method used to
measure it. Also, mass is a scalar quantity.

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Newton’s Second Law

• the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force

acting on it.
• the magnitude of the acceleration of an object is inversely
proportional to its mass.

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Newton’s Third Law
If two objects interact, the force F12 exerted by object 1 on object 2 is
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force F21 exerted by
object 2 on object 1:

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 Some Applications of Newton’s Laws

A traffic light weighing 122 N hangs from a cable

tied to two other cables fastened to a support, as
in figure. The upper cables make angles of 37.0°
and 53.0° with the horizontal. These upper cables
are not as strong as the vertical cable, and will
break if the tension in them exceeds 100 N.
– Will the traffic light remain hanging in this
situation, or will one of the cables break?
– Suppose the two angles in figure are equal.
What would be the relationship between T1
and T2?

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 Some Applications of Newton’s Laws

• A person weighs a fish of mass m on a spring

scale attached to the ceiling of an elevator, as
illustrated in figure. Show that if the elevator
accelerates either upward or downward, the
spring scale gives a reading that is different from
the weight of the fish.
• Suppose the elevator cable breaks, so that the
elevator and its contents are in free-fall. What
happens to the reading on the scale?

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Some Applications of Newton’s Laws
A ball of mass m1 and a block of mass m2 are attached by a
lightweight cord that passes over a frictionless pulley of negligible
mass, as in figure. The block lies on a frictionless incline of angle θ.
Find the magnitude of the acceleration of the two objects and the
tension in the cord.

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Forces of Friction

When an object is in motion either on a surface or in a viscous

medium such as air or water, there is resistance to the motion
because the object interacts with its surroundings. We call such
resistance a force of friction.

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• The magnitude of the force of static friction between any two
surfaces in contact can have the values
f s  s n
• The magnitude of the force of kinetic friction acting between two
surfaces is f  n
k k

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A block of mass m1 on a rough, horizontal surface is connected to a
ball of mass m2 by a lightweight cord over a lightweight, frictionless
pulley, as shown in figure. A force of magnitude F at an angle θ with
the horizontal is applied to the block as shown. The coefficient of
kinetic friction between the block and surface is μk . Determine the
magnitude of the acceleration of the two objects.

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Newton’s Second Law Applied
to Uniform Circular Motion
Overhead view of a ball moving in a circular path in a horizontal
plane. A force Fr directed toward the center of the circle keeps the
ball moving in its circular path.

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conical pendulum
A small object of mass m is suspended from a string of length L. The
object revolves with constant speed v in a horizontal circle of radius r, as
shown in figure. (Because the string sweeps out the surface of a cone,
the system is known as a conical pendulum.) Find an expression for v.

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