16/09/2013

What is Physics?
The study of objects and their interactions
Observational science why do things work
Physics in Everyday Life they way they do
Predictive science mathematical models are
developed to predict behaviour
The Physics of Motion Experimental science mathematical models
are tested to see if they reflect reality
Andrew Robinson If they do and are accepted as a generally
robust model, then they become a Theory

Physics is Everywhere Course Objectives

By looking around our To show you physics at work around us
surroundings, we can see lots To explain why some things we observe
of physics happening happen the way they do
There is also lots of physics To show you that physics does not need
happening which our own complicated mathematics to be
senses cannot detect understandable
To make you think

Position
Position
Where are we?
To describe position, we need a Reference
Describing Point, sometimes called the Origin
Acceleration Displacement
Motion

Velocity
(and Speed) Equator

Greenwich Meridian

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Ren Descartes
The Cartesian Coordinate System Position

Acceleration Describing
Displacement
Motion

Velocity
(and Speed)

Velocity and Speed I drove at 80 km/hour describes a speed

These are similar concepts, the rate of change
of distance with respect to time I drove due North at 80 km/hour describes a
velocity
In Physics there is a distinction between
velocity and speed
Velocity is the speed, but also has a
designated direction
This is an example of a vector quantity

A vehicle with a higher acceleration travels

Acceleration further in any given time
At the end of that time it has a higher speed
The rate of change of velocity than the vehicle with the lower acceleration

How much faster are we getting?

Accelerating
How much slower are we getting?
Decelerating The concept of
separate velocity and
acceleration is a
difficult one to
visualise

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The Aristotelians
Observe
The Greek Scholar Aristotle considered what Reject or
made objects move Accept Form
Hypothesis
He stated that an object required a Force to The Great Greek Hypothesis

keep it moving thinkers failed to

develop the
This definition of a Force being an agent
Scientific Method
causing motion lasted until the Renaissance
period in western Europe. Compare
Observation Perform
with Experiment
Experiments

Aristotle did not test his theory of motion with Vincenzo Galilei
experiments. and the Scientific Method
Nevertheless, his ideas on force and motion
dominated Western science for thousands of Vincenzo Galilei (1520-1591)
was an accomplished Lutenist
years. and composer.
He produced the first
description of how the tension
in a lute string changed the
pitch of the note.
He did experiments, analysed
the results and produced a
mathematical formula to
describe the relationship

Galileo Galelei Aristotle had hypothesized

that the heavier an object,
Vincenzos son Galileo applied the scientific the faster it would fall
method to the study of motion
Galileo dropped
His experiments, some rolling marbles down cannonballs of different
slopes and others, clearly distinguished weight from the top of the
between velocity (speed) and acceleration leaning tower of Pisa.
Some of his results contradicted Aristotle and They hit the ground at the
were very controversial same time!

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Isaac Newton and the Laws of Motion The First Law of Motion
In 1686, the English scientist An object continues at constant speed in a
Isaac Newton, took work on straight line (i.e. at constant velocity) unless
motion by Galileo and acted on by an external force.
Descartes, added his own
The natural state of Aristotle was
observations and wrong! Aristotle
formulated three laws of nature is either no
motion or motion in a assumed that
motion and a law of gravity straight line with objects were
which describe most constant speed stationary when
observable motion. no force was
exerted

The Second Law of Motion =

The force required to change the velocity of If you apply more force to an object, it
an object is proportional to the mass of the accelerates more
body and the acceleration

So What is Mass? Mass and Weight

Sometimes called Inertia or Inertial Mass Dont confuse them!
In physics, a weight is a force due to gravity
The resistance of a body to a force a large acting on a mass
mass will resist a force more than a small The mass is constant
mass, and produce a smaller change in motion The weight depends where you are in the
(the acceleration) universe
Dictionary Definition:
inertness, especially with regard to effort, motion, a
ction, and the like; inactivity; sluggishness.

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Walking On The Moon The Third Law of Motion

On the Moon, the gravitational force is a sixth
that on Earth
The astronauts from Apollo 17 (Gene Cernan
and Harrison Schmitt) weigh less than they do
on Earth
Their inertia (mass) is still the same
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wo3-fuYKWB4
When a force is exerted on an object, the
object exerts an equal and opposite force
back.
Known as the Reaction Force
This law is sometimes quoted as
Action and reaction are equal and opposite

Video: NASA

How Do We See It In Action? Child pushing Grandmother on tricycle

The Third Law was Newtons major Grandmothers back

contribution to development of the laws of pushes on boys hands
motion.

Boy pushes
If you push on an object, the object pushes grandmother
back on you with an equal force which is in
the opposite direction

Gravity pulls
Forces Can Cancel Out
down on
grandmother, Force is a vector quantity (with magnitude and
pushing her direction).
towards the floor Vector quantities can be added together, so
that they cancel each other out, and the net
effect is zero

Floor pushes back

on grandmother,
stopping her from
sinking into the
ground

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Vase with Irises (Van Gogh, 1890)

In a tug of war contest, the teams are pulling
We know gravity is on the rope in opposite directions
pulling the vase down:
things fall towards the
Earth

Why doesnt the vase

fall through the table?

The table pushes back on the vase, with a force equal to

the force of gravity. There is no force, no acceleration,
and a stationary object remains stationary

If both teams are evenly matched, then the

two forces exerted on the rope are equal and
opposite. They cancel out.
There is no net force on the rope, so the rope
does not change its motion
If the rope was stationary, it remains
stationary
If one team is slightly stronger than the other, the
forces do not cancel out, and there is a small
force acting on the rope in the direction that the
stronger team are pulling
Newtons Second Law says that if there is a force,
then there must be acceleration.
The stationary rope must start to move in the
direction of the acceleration

Adding force vectors and cancelling them out Aircraft Climbing

works with any number of vectors
Engine Thrust Lift

If each of these Air

three force vectors resistance
are equal, the net (drag)
force is zero Gravity

This is a free body diagram, it shows the

main forces acting on the aircraft

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Apple tree at
Gravity Woolsthorpe Manor,
Grantham, where
In the Principia Newton also Newton formulated the
formulated a Law Of Gravity Law of Gravitation
to describe the easily
observable fact that things
fall down towards the
surface of the Earth

Newtons Law of Gravity Keplers Laws

The gravitational force is exerted between any Newtons Law of Gravitation was able to
two masses and depends on the value of each explain the earlier observations of planetary
of the masses. motion made by Johannes Kepler (1571-1630)
It also gets weaker with distance

With distance
squared to be exact
Earth Blue
Mars Red

Earth and Moon Lunar Tides

seen from the The gravitational pull of the moon is one of
Galileo Probe the two contributing factors to explaining
Earth attracts the tides in the seas and oceans
Moon
Moon attracts the
Earth The gravitational
The forces are pull of the sun is
the other
equal and opposite influencing factor

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Direction of Velocity for a Rotating

Circular Motion
Object
The velocity vector is always at a tangent to
If the Earth and the spinning object
Moon are pulling
on each other,
why dont they
collide?

The velocity vector is always at a tangent to

the spinning object A rotating object is always subjected to a
So the vector points in a different direction force, because its velocity is always changing
This counts as a change in velocity over time The force always acts to push the object into a
circular path it is always towards the centre

This is a
definition of
acceleration

Where Does the Centripetal Force

Centripetal Force
Come From?
From Latin centrum
"centre" and petere It is not a new force of
"to seek nature, it has to come from
a force which is already
The Centripetal force
acting on the object
is any force which
always acts to make
an object move in a
circular path
Bolas: South American Lasso

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For a ball on a string, its the tension force in For the moon going
the taut string that pulls the ball around in a round the sun, its gravity
circle that provides the
centripetal force

Tension Force

Gravitational Force

Turning a Corner in Your Car

Sideways friction forces from the tires (tyres)
provides the centripetal force
You turn in a
circular path, so
where does the
centripetal force
come from?

Canadian Grand
Prix 2006,
Montreal

If the friction force is not sufficient to hold you Whether friction can generate sufficient force
in the circle, then you slide off the road to hold you on the road depends on
1. The speed you are going there is a
maximum safe speed
Slide off, if 2. The radius of the turn (tighter turns must
there is not go slower)
enough
centripetal 3. How good your tires are (tread and rubber
Ice force compound)
4. The nature of the road surface slippery
surfaces generate much less friction force
(ice, puddles of water)

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Banked Turns Why?

If the turn is banked, then part of another force
In many cases of can provide an extra contribution to the
centripetal force
turning, the object
More force: easier to turn more quickly and in a
turns more easily if
tighter turn
it is banked
Force of road
pushing on car

Friction
Weight

Centripetal force has contributions from

friction and normal force
It is larger than it would be for a flat turn
The car can take the banked turn faster than it
can take a flat turn
There is a similar effect for aircraft, where
banking uses part of the lifting force
generated by the wings to provide centripetal
force

Centripetal
force

The vertical part of the list force has to

The part of the lift force which is parallel to counterbalance gravity, otherwise the plane
the ground provides the centripetal force. loses height!
gravity

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Modes of Transport Sail Power

Moving ourselves around is mostly about
providing a force to push against something in
order to change our state of motion
The exception to this statement is the
rocket motor, which depends upon a
different physical principle, the
Conservation of Momentum. We will
discuss this principle in another class.
We use the wind to provide a force
The sails change the direction of the wind
velocity (which means the wind is accelerating
around the sail)
The wind exerts a force on the sail
The Sail exerts a force on the air. This force is
the one which moves the boat
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/sailing.html

Wind changes direction Force on The force of the sail on the wind is applied to
air the hull of the boat through the mast.
making it The hull has a force on it, which changes its
change
motion
direction
Propulsive
force, moves
the boat
Force of sail on forward
air. The sail through the
pushes on the water
air and this is
the force which Unwanted sideways force
can move the
boat

The sideways force (which is not wanted) is

counteracted by a drag force from the keel Flettner Rotor Ship
under the hull
In the 1920s the German engineer Anton
Flettner, used the Magnus effect to power
Sideways force ships, by using wind power coupled to rotating
Drag force from water cylinders to generate a propulsive force more
efficiently than sails

Flettner Rotors
Drag force Propulsive force
from keel

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The Flettner rotors were powered by low power

electric motors
Force generated on rotor
Wind velocity
Oar Power
Use the oar to push on the water
Newtons Third Law, means that the water
pushes back on the oar.
The oar is held by the crew, who sit in the
boat. The push of the water on the oar
propels the boat

Gondolas in Venice Propellers or Paddlewheels

The oar pushes on the water The paddlewheel or propeller in a ship turns
The water pushes back on the oar and exerts a force on the water
This force is transmitted through the oar and The water pushes back on the propulsion
gondolier to the gondola system, moving the boat

It actually depends on
the grip of the
gondoliers shoes to the
deck!

Walking, Jogging or Running Force is efficiently transferred to the ground if

there is plenty of grip
Our muscles move our skeletal
A large friction force is applied between the
system so that we exert a force
ground and the foot
on the road.
We wear shoes which are optimized to give good
The road pushes back on our grip in various conditions
feet
We move along

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Wheelchair basketball (Canada vs Australia, Athlete pushes on the wheel

Sept 2012, Paralympics)

Floor pushes on the

Wheel pushes on the floor
wheel, wheelchair
moves forward

To propel a car forward is similar, except that Conclusions

the force to turn the wheel comes from the
engine
Forward progress depends on there being
efficient transmission of force from wheel to
ground.
This requires a large friction force.
In slippery conditions, the wheel turns, but slips
on the road, and so no forward progress is made
By studying motion, we can deduce many
things about the physical universe.
We can see Newtons Laws of Motion
operating all around us, even on objects which
do not appear to be moving.

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