Law of motions

1) Introduction
While studying kinematics,we have already studied about the position
,displacement and acceleration of a moving particle
Here in this chapter,we would take our understanding one step further to
learn abouts origins of accleration or force
Here we will specifically consider the cause behind the moving objects i.e
what causes the objects to move
Thus we will learn the theory of motion based on the ideas of mass and
force and the laws connecting these physical concepts to the kinematics
quantities
So we will begin by stating the ewton!s law!s of motion which are of
critical importance in classical mechanics
"aws of motion as stated by ewtons in his principle are
#i$ %very body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion
in straight line ,unlesss compelled to change that state by force imposed
upon it
#ii$ &hange of motion of an objects is proportional to the force acting on it
and is made in the direction of the straight line along the direction of force
#iii$ To every action there is always an equal and opposite reaction
(2) Force
&oncept of force is central to all of physics whether it is classical
physics,nuclear physics,quantum physics or any other form of physics
So what is force' when we push or pull anybody we are said to e(ert force
on the body
)ush or pull applied on a body does not e(actly define the force
in general.We can define force as an influence causing a body at rest or
moving with constant velocity to undergo an accleration
There are many ways in which one body can e(ert force on another body
*ew e(amples are given below
#a$Stretched springs e(erts force on the bodies attached to its ends
#b$&ompressed air in a container e(erts force on the walls of the container
#c$ *orce can be used to deform a fle(ible object
There are lots of e(amples you could find looking around yourself
*orce of gravitational attraction e(erted by earth is a kind of force that acts
on every physical body on the earth and is called the weight of the body
+echanical and gravitation forces are not the only forces present infact all
the forces in ,niverse are based on four fundamental forces
#i$ Strong and weak forces- These are forces at very short distance #./
0
/1
m$ and are responsible for interaction between neutrons and proton in
atomic nucleus
#ii$ %lectromagnetic forces- %+ force acts between electric charges
#iii$ 2ravitational force 0it acts between the masses
3n mechanics we will only study about the mechanical and gravitational
forces
*orce is a vector quatity and it needs both the magnitude as well as
direction for its complete description
S3 unit of force is ewton #$ and &2S unit is dyne where
. dyne4 ./
/1

(3) Newton's First law of Motion
We have already stated ewton!s *irst law of motion which says that a
body would continue to be in state of rest or continue to move with
constant velocity unless acted upon by a net e(ternal force
Here the net e(ternal force on the body is the vector sum of all the e(tenal
forces acting on the body
When the body at rest or in a state of motion with uniform velocity then in
both the cases acceleration is 5ero.This implies that
a4/ for *4/
When net forces i.e vector sum of all the forces acting on the body is
5ero.the body is said to be in equilbrium .When rotational motion is
involved 6,net torque on body should also be 5ero i.e their is no change in
either translational or rotational motion
Since forces can be combined according to the rules of vector
addition.Thus for a body to be in equilibrium
R47F4/
or in component form
7*
(
4/
7*
y
4/
These are the condition for the body in translational equilbrium
We will discuss about rotational equilibrium while studying torque and
rotational motion
Thus ewton!s *irst law of motion quantitatively defines the concept of
force as a influence that changes the state of motion of the body
3t does not say anything about what has to be done to keep object moving
that is once the body gains motion by the application of force would it
always
8ccording to first law if we completely eliminates frictional forces,no
forward force at all would be required to keep an object # say a block on
table$
(4) Inertia and Mass
*rom *irst law of motion an object at rest would not move unless it is
acted upon by a force
This inherent property of objects to remain at rest unless acted upon by a
force is called intertia rest
ow consider the case of an object moving with uniform velocity along the
straight line .8gain from ewton!s law it would continue to move with
uniform
This inherent property by virtue of which a body in state of uniform motion
tend to maintain its uniform motion is called inertia of motion
&ombining these two statements !The property of an object to remain in
state of rest or uniform rectilinear motion unless acted upon by a force is
called inertia
+ass of any body is the measure of inertia .*or e(ample if we apply equal
amount of force on two objects of different mass #say m
.
and
m
9
such that m
.
: m
9
$ Tnen acceleration of both the object would be
different #i.e , a
.
6 a
9
$
8cceleration of object having larger mass would be lesser then the
acceleration of object having smaller mass
Thus larger the mass of the body ,smaller would be the acceleration and
larger would be the inertia
ewton!s first law of motion revealing this fundamental property of matter
i.e inertia is also known as law of inertia
(5) Newton's second law of motion

ewton!s first law of motion qualitatively defines the concept of force and
the principle of inertia

*or an body at rest,application of force causes a changed in its e(isting

state and application of force on a body moving with uniform velocity
would give the body under consideration as acceleration

ewton!s second law of motion is a relation between force and

acceleration

ewton!s second law of motion says that

; The net force on a body is equal to the product of mass and acceleration
of the body;
+athematically
F
net
4ma #.$
Where *
net
is the vector sum of all the forces acting on the body

8bove equation 0#.$ can be resolved along (,y and 5 components .Thus in
component form
*
net(
4ma
(
*
nety
4ma
y

*
net5
4ma
5

&omponent of accleration along a given a(is is caused only by the net

component of force along that a(is only not by the components of force
along other6a(is
6<a(is

ewton!s second law of motion is completely consistent with newton first

law of motion as from equation #.$ *4/ implies that a4/

*or a body moving under the influence of force,acceleration at any instant

is determined by the force at that instant not by the prev ious motion of the
ewton!s second law of motion is strictly applicable to a single particle .3n
case of rigid bodies or system of particles,it refers to total e(ternal forces
acting on the system e(cluding the internal forces in the system.
6)Newton's third law of motion
Statement of newton!s third law of motion is !o e"er# action there is
alwa#s an e$ual and o%%osite reaction.
Thus,whenever a body e(erts force on another then another object e(ert
an equal force on previous body but in opposite direction
*orce e(ample motion of rocket depends on the third law of motion i.e,
action and reaction .=ocket e(erts action force on gas jet in backward
direction
*orce of action and reaction acts on different objects i.e,
*orce object . e(erts on object 94 *orce object 9 e(erts on object .
i.e,
*
.9
40*
9.
8ction40#=eaction$
8ccording to newtonian mechanics force is always a mutual interaction
between the bodies and force always occurs in pairs
%qual and opposite mutual forces between two bodies is the basic idae
between ewton!s third law of motion
While considering a system of particles ,internal force always cancel away
in pairs i.e consider two particles in a body if *
.9
and
*
9.
are internal forces between partcile system . and 9 then they add up
to give a null internal force.Same way internal forces for the particles
(&) '%%l#in( Newton's law of motion
Newton's law of motion ,we studied in earliar topics are the foundation of
mechanics and now we look forward to solve problems in mechanics
In general,we deal with mechanical systems consisting of different objects
exerting force on each other
While solving a problem choose any part of the assembly and apply the laws of
motion to that part including all the forces on the choosen part of the assembly
due to remaining parts of the assembly
ollowing steps can be followed while solving the problems in mechanics
!"#ead the problem carefully
$" %raw a schematic diagrom showing parts of the assembly for example it may
be a single particle or two blocks connected to string going over pulley etc
&" Identify the object of prime interest and make a list of all the forces acting on
the concerned object due to all other objects of the assembly and exclude the force
applied by the object of prime interest on the other parts of the assembly
'" Indicate the forces acting on the concerned object with arrow and Lable each
force for example tension on the object under consideration can be labelled by
letter (
)" %raw a free body diagram of the object of interest based on the labelled
picture*ree body diagram for the object under consideration shows all the forces
exerted on this object by the other bodies*%o not forget to consider weight W+mg
of the body while labelling the forces acting on the body
," If additional objects are involved draw seperate free body diagrma for them
also
-"#esolve the rectangular components of all the forces acting on the body
." Write Newton second law of e/uation for the body and solve them to find out
the unknowm /uantities
0" %o not forget to employ Newton's third law of motion for action reaction pair
which results in null resultant force
ollowing solved example would clearly illustrate how to apply Newton's laws of
motion follwowing the above given procedure
Solved Example :
1uestion2
3 hori4ontal forces of magnitude )55N pulls two blocks of masses m!+!5 kg and m$+$5
kg which are connected by the light inextensible string and lying on the hori4ontal
frictionless surface*ind the tension in the strings and acceleration of each mass when
forces is applied on mass
m$6 Solution:
7iven that force is applied on the block m$ as shown in the figure below

Let ( be the tension in the string and a be the accleration of each mass *Now we will
draw free body diagrams for each masses

Weights of the blocks m!g and m$g are balanced by their normal reaction #! and
#$ respectivley*(he e/uations of motion of the two massed are found using Newton's
second law of motion
m!a+( *******************************8!"
m$a+9( ****************************8$"
%ividing ! by $
we get
(+m!:8m!;m$"
<ubstituting the given values
(+!,,*- N
=sing value of ( in e/uation ! ,we find
a+!,*,- m:s
$
3bove sample problem shows how to solve a typical mechanics problem*<imilarly by
adopting given procedure we can solve other such problems
()) Inertial frame of Reference
3nertial frame of refrences are those frames of reference in which newton!s
first and second law of motion is always hold true
8 frame of reference in which ewton!s law are not valid is called non0
inertial frame of refrence
3n an inertial frame if a body is not acted by e(ternal force ,it continues to
be in state of rest or uniform translatory motion.Thus in an inertial frame if
the body is not acted upon by an e(ternal force then accleration would be
5ero
a4#d
9
r<dt
9
$4/
3f a frame is inertial frame ,then all those frames which are moving with
constant velocity relative to the previous frame are also inertial frames
3nertial frame of refrence are necessarly unaccelerated frames because if
the frame is acclerated the particle moving with uniform velocity will
appear64;; p4;;:
(*) Fictitious ( or +seudo ) Forces

We already know about on0inertial frame of reference .8ll the accelrated

and rotatig frame of reference are non0inertial frame of refrence

&onsider an interial frame of reference S and let S

!
be any other frame
moving with accleration w.r.t to frame S as shown in the below figure

ow if no e(ternal forces are acting on particle ) .Then its acceleration

would be 5ero in *rame S but in frame S
!
,an observer will find an
acceleration 0a
,
acting on the particle.

The observer force on particle ) of mass m in *rame S

!
is 0ma
,

>ut in reality no such force is acting on the particle and particle appears to
be accelerated in this non0inertial frame of reference.Such one force is
known as )seudo or *ictitious *orce. Hence )seudo *orce on particle is
F
+
40ma
,

ow if we apply *
i
on the particle and a
i
is the observed accleration of
particle in S frame#3nertial frame$ The according to ewton!s law
F
i
4ma
i

*or calculating net force in accelerated frame consider both the frames S
and S
!
coincid at time t4/ .8fter time t let r
i
and r
n
be the position vector of
the particle in frame S and S
!
respectively
The relation between r
i
and r
n
is
r
i
4r
n
?#.<9$a
,
t
9
Where a
,
is the acceleration of frame S
!
wrt frame S
@ifferentiating the equation w.r.t time twice
a
i
4a
n
? a
,
or ma
i
0ma
,
4ma
n
4: F
,
? F
+
4F
N
This equation gives obesrved force in acclerated frame of reference

Solved Examples
-uestion 1 *orce e(erted on a body changes it!s
#a$ @irection of motion
#b$ +omentum
#c$ Ainetic energy
#d$ 8ll the above
.olution- 8 body acted upon by a certain force produces acceleration i.e. it undergoes change in
it!s velocity. hence choice #d$ is correct
-uestion 2 there are two statements
8 =ate of change of momentum correspondes to force
> =ate of change of momentum corresponds to Ainetic %nergy
Which of the following is correct
#a$ 8 only
#b$ > only
#c$ >oth 8 and > are correct
#d$ >oth 8 and > are wrong
.olution
*4dp<dt so a is correct
-uestion 3 8 truck and car are moving on a plane road with same kinetic %nergy. They are
brought to rest by application of brakes which provide equal retarding forces. Which of the
following statements is true.
#a$ @istance travelled by truck is shorter then car before comming to rest
#b$ @istance travelled by car is shorter then truck before comming to rest
#c$ @istance travelled depends on individual velocity of both the vehicles
#d$ >oth will travel same distance before comming to rest
.olution 3
>y work energy therorm we know
A%f0A%i4Workdone
So in this case
3ntial A%4retarting force B distance travelled
Since kinectic energy is same and retarding force is equal
@istance travelled will be same
-uestion 4 8 block 8 of mass m. is released from top of smooth inclined plane and it slides down
the plane. 8nother block of mass m9 such that m9 : m.is dropped from the same point and falls
vertically downwards. Which one of the following statements will be true if the friction offered by
air is negligible'
#a$ >oth blocks will reach ground at same time
#b$ >oth blocks will reach ground with the same speed
#c$ speed of both the blocks when they reach ground will depend on their masses
#d$ >lock 8 reaches ground brfore block >
.olution 4
since velocity of block when it reaches the ground is given by v4#9gh$
.<9
and it is independent of
the mass the correct choice will be #b$.
-uestion 5 Which of the following observer is<are non interial
a.8 child revolving in the merry ground
b. 8 driver in a train moving with constant velocity v
c. 8 passenger in a bus which is slowing down to a stop
d one of these
.olution 5
Since centripetal acceleration is present in merry round it is non interial frame of refrence
Since bus is slowing down to a stop,it means it is e(periencing a retardation ,so it is non interial
frame of refrence
-uestion 6 there are two statements
8 ewtons first law in valid from the pilot in an aircraft which is taking off
> ewtons first law in valid from the observer in a train moving with constant velocity
Which of the following is correct
#a$ 8 only
#b$ > only
#c$ >oth 8 and > are correct
#d$ >oth 8 and > are wrong
.olution 6
We know that ewtons law is invalid in on interial frame of refrence, now since acceleration is
present in 3st case..So answer is >
-uestion &8 33TC%% te(t book of mass + rests flat on a hori5ontal table of mass m placed on the
ground."et =D0:E be the constant force e(erted by the body ( on body E.8ccording to ewton third
law,which of the following is an action0reaction pair of forces'
a. #+?m$g and =table0:book
b. =ground0:table and mg?=book0:table
c. =ground0:table and =table0:ground
d +g and =table0:book
.olution &
8ction reaction pair acts on diffrent body and always are in oppsite direction.We will have to draw
free body diagram for each part in this case.
-uestion ) &hoose the correct alternative
a. The acceleration of a moving particle is always in the direction of its velocity
b. Felocity and acceleraion vectors of a moving particle may have any angle between / and GH/
between them
c.Felocity and acceleraion vectors of a moving particle may have any angle between / and .I/
between them
d. 3f the acceleration vector is always perpendicular to the velocity vector of a moving particle,the
velocity vector does not change
.olution )
3n circular motion,acceleration vector is perpendicular to velocity and velocity is also changing.
ow acceleration and velocity can have any angle between
-uestion * there are two statements
8 ewtons first law in valid from the pilot in an aircraft which is taking off
> ewtons first law in valid from the observer in a train moving with constant velocity
Which of the following is correct
#a$ 8 only
#b$ > only
#c$ >oth 8 and > are correct
#d$ >oth 8 and > are wrong
.olution * ewtons law is valid from 3ntertial frame of refrence
when the plane is taking off,it has acceleration so it can not be intertial frame of refrence
When the observer is train moving with constant velocity,so no acceleration is invloved.So it is
3ntertial frame.Hence ewton law is valid
-uestion 1,.8 body of mass 1 kg starts from the origin with an intial velocity u4G/i?J/j m<sec.3f
the constant force acts on the body *40#i?1j$ .The time in which y component of the velocity
becomes 5ero is
a. 1 sec
b. I/ sec
c. 9/ sec
d. J/ sec
.olution 1,.
*orce40#i?1j$
+ass 41 Ag
intial velocity u4G/i?J/j m<sec
8cceleration-0
a4*<m40#i?1j$<140.9i0j
E component of intial velocity is J/ m<s
8cceleration in that direction 0. m<s
9
So
v4u?at
/4J/0.t
or t4J/ sec
Hence d is correct
-uestion 11.8 particle is acted upon by a force of constant magnitude which is always
perpendicular to the velocity of the particle.The motion of the particle takes place in a plane.it
follows that
a. velocity is constant
b. accelerattion is constant
c. A% is constant
d. )article moves in a circular path
.olution 11
Since force is always perpendicular to the body,workdone by it will be 5ero
So kinetic energy is constant
3t is the case of uniform circular motion
Felocity magnitude is constant but direction is constantly changing
8cceleration is constany but direction is constantly changing
Hence c and d are constant
-uestion 128 small mass m is suspended from one end of a vertical string. and then whirled in a
hori5ontal circle at a constant speed v.
Which of the followings is true
a.The strings stays vertical
b.The string becomes inclined to the vertical.
c.There is no force on mass m e(cept its weight
d.The angle of inclination of the string does not depend on the v
e.The centripetal force on m is mg
.olution 12
Since the body is rotating on a hori5ontal circle,String will be inclined to the hori5ontal
3t is shown in figure
The forces acting on the body are weight and tension in the string
Fertical component of the tension will balance out the weight of the body
Hori5ontal component will provide the required centripetal force for the circular motion
if T is the tension and W be the weight and K be the angle of inclination
then
TcosK 4Wg
8nd TsinK 4mv
9
<=
So angle of inclination depends on the speed of the motion
So only correct answer is b
-uestion 13.The tension in cable supporting an elevator is equal to th weight of the elevetor.The
elevator may be
a. going up with incresing speed
b. going down with increasing speed
c. going up with uniform speed
d. going down with uniform speed.
.olution 13
Since the tension is the string equals weight of the elevator,3t means resultant force is 5ero
So acceleration must be 5ero
Hence c and d are correct answer
-uestion 14 8 refrence frame attached to the earth
a.is an inertial frame by defination
b.cannot be inertial frame as earth is revolving around the sun
c.is an intertial frame because ewton!s law are applicable in this frame
d.cannot be intertial frame because earth is rotating about its own a(is
.olution 14
%arth cannot be inertial frame as it is revolving around the sun and also rotating about its a(is
-uestion 15>y means of rope ,a body of weight W is moved vertically upward with constant
acceleration a .*ind the tensile force in the rope
a. W#.?a<g$
b W#.0a<g$
c W
d. none of the above
.olution 15
*orces acting on the body
Tensile force vertically upward4S
Weight of the body vertically downward4W
>ody has acceleration a vertically upwards
et force on the body must provide the acceleration
so S0W4#W<g$a
or S4W#.?a<g$