Forces Study Guide

Forces
push greater inertia mass
balanced force

The property of a body that resists any change in velocity is called _________________.
Inertia is the property of an object at rest that causes it to remain at rest. The amount
of inertia an object has is a measure of its _________________. The more mass a
body has, the _________________ its inertia. Newton’s first law of motion describes
the inertia of objects. A force is a _________________ or pull one body exerts on
another. When forces are equal in size but opposite in direction, they are
_________________. When one force is greater than other, they are unbalanced.
When forces on an object are unbalanced, there is a net _________________. A net
force always changes the velocity of an object.

springs downward gravity balanced

A bathroom scale measures the force of _________________ on your body, which is

called weight. Scales use the principals of_________________ forces. Gravity exerts a
_________________ force on your body. The scale measures the force needed to
balance your weight. Rubber bands are not very good scales. Better scales are made with
metal _________________. In the laboratory, we use spring scales to measure forces.

Friction
stops friction types opposite

The force that opposes motion between two surfaces that are touching each other is
friction. _________________ is the force that occurs when two surfaces rub together.
Moving objects slow down because friction acts in a direction _________________ to
the motion of the object. The moving object slows down and finally
_________________. The greater the friction, the faster an object will lose speed. The
amount of friction depends on the _________________ of surfaces and the force pressing
them together.

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moving push lubricants force
rolls fluid opposes less

There are four types of friction: static, sliding, rolling, and _________________ . Static
friction is the force which keeps a motionless object from being pushed or pulled across a
surface. When two solid surfaces slide over each other, sliding friction acts between the
surfaces. When you _________________ a chair across the floor, a sliding friction
opposes your motion. When an object _________________ over a surface, the friction
produced is called rolling friction. Rolling friction tends to oppose motion
_________________ than sliding friction, therefore wheels are often placed on objects to
make them easier to move. When an object moves through a fluid, fluid friction results.
All liquids and gases are fluids. Air resistance is a common example of fluid friction.
Fluid friction usually _________________ motion less than sliding friction. Substances
called ___________ change sliding friction to fluid friction. Oil, grease, and wax are
examples of lubricants.

tires stop helpful friction

floor

Although friction opposes motion, friction can sometimes be _________________ .

When you walk there is friction between the soles of your shoes and the
_________________ . As you write with a pencil, _________________ rubs black
graphite from the pencil tip onto the paper. _________________ have treads to increase
the friction of the wheels on the road and brakes use friction to _________________
motion.

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Gravity
kilograms mass greater gravity
forces Newton

Not all _________________ are exerted by bodies touching each other. Objects fall
because Earth exerts a force on them called _________________. The force of
gravity that Earth exerts depends on the _________________ of the object. Mass is
measured in grams or _________________. The force of gravity the Earth exerts on
an object is called the weight. The unit of weight, and any other force, is the
_________________. Gravity is a property not only of Earth but of all matter. Every
object exerts a force on other objects. The more mass an object has, the
_________________ the force of gravity it exerts. The pull of gravity on the moon is
only 1/6 as great as the pull of gravity on Earth. The force of gravity also depends on
the distance between objects. This is explained by Newton’s Universal Law of
Gravitation.

Newton’s Second Law

kilogram larger Newton force

The acceleration of an object increases as the amount of net _________________ applied

to the object increases. A small mass will have a greater acceleration than a
_________________ mass if the same force is applied to each. One ________________
is the force needed to cause a one _________________ mass to be accelerated one meter
per second each second.

Newton’s Third Law

pairs direction size accelerated

Forces always come in _________________. The two forces in action-reaction pairs are
equal in _________________ and opposite in _________________. An informal way of
stating Newton’s third law is “to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. If
an object has a net force on it, it will be _________________.

Falling Objects
gravitational second 9.8 m/s/s kilograms

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acceleration

All objects near the surface of the Earth fall with the same _________________. If an
object started falling from rest, it would be traveling 9.8 m/s at the end of one
_________________. An object accelerates only if it has a net force acting on it. The
force on a falling object is the _________________ attraction of Earth. To find the
weight of an object in Newtons, multiply its mass in _________________ by the
acceleration due to gravity, _________________.

resistance terminal reduces opposite increases

An object falling in Earth’s atmosphere has a force acting on it called air

_________________. Air resistance is the force exerted by air on a moving object. Air
resistance acts in the _________________ direction, and depends on the speed, size, and
shape of the object. As an object falls in air, the air resistance _________________ as the
speed increases. When the upward force of air against the object is equal to the
downward force of gravity, the object no longer accelerates. The largest velocity reached
by a falling object is _________________ velocity. The acceleration of an object on the
moon is the same throughout its fall because there is no air resistance. Feathers fall more
slowly than heavy, solid objects because of Earth’s atmosphere. An open tissue very
quickly reaches terminal velocity when it falls. The resistance of air on a parachute
_________________ the terminal velocity of a falling person.

freefall gravity orbiting weightless force

An object is weightless when it is in _________________ . A spacecraft in orbit around

Earth is _________________ because it is in freefall. Earth’s _________________
accelerates the spacecraft toward Earth. There is no other _________________ on the
spacecraft. Astronauts and objects inside an _________________ spacecraft are
weightless because they are in freefall.

centripetal changing straight center force

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Any object will continue in a straight line path unless a net _________________ acts on it.
The acceleration of an object moving in a circular path is toward the _________________ of
the circle. In the case of a car rounding a curve, the frictional force of the road on the tires
exerts the _________________ force. Highways are often built with the outside edges of
curves higher than the inside edge. This increases the available force toward the center. A
satellite in orbit above Earth is an example of circular motion. Without gravity, a satellite
would continue along in a _________________ line, not in a circular path. As a satellite
circles Earth, the direction of its motion keeps _________________.

Mechanical Energy
mass kinetic mechanical velocity joules

Energy is defined as the ability to cause an object to apply a force to another object in
order to cause it to change its position. _________________ energy is the energy an object
has due to its motion or its stored energy of position. Energy is measured in Newton
meters also known as _________________.

Energy that appears in the form of motion is called _________________ energy. The blades
of a rotating fan and a bowling ball rolling down an alley have kinetic energy. The
amount of kinetic energy a moving object has depends on the mass of the object and its
_________________. A train has more kinetic energy than a car moving at the same speed.
A car traveling at 90 km/h has more kinetic energy than the same car traveling at 50
km/h. For an object that is moving the kinetic energy equals one half times the
_________________ of the object times the square of the speed of the object.

potential height kinetic higher direct

Energy that an object has as the result of its position is called _________________ energy. If
you lift a stone, it gains gravitational potential energy. If a stone falls, it loses
gravitational potential energy but gains _________________ energy. The gravitational
potential energy is dependent on two variables - the mass of the object and the
_________________ to which it is raised. More massive objects have greater gravitational
potential energy. There is also a _________________ relation between gravitational

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potential energy and the height of an object. The _________________ that an object is
elevated, the greater the gravitational potential energy. These relationships are expressed
by the following equation: PE = mass X acceleration due to gravity X height.

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Energy Conservation
conservation changed potential increases kinetic

When a swinging pendulum stops at the highest point in its swing, it has no kinetic
energy. The energy is all _________________. When the mass is at the lowest points in its
swing, its velocity is greatest and potential energy is smallest. The energy is all
_________________. Energy is changed from potential to kinetic and back, but the total
amount of energy has not _________________. The sum of the pendulum’s potential and
kinetic energies is it mechanical energy. As the pendulum’s potential energy decreases,
its kinetic energy _________________. According to the law of _________________ of energy,
energy can change from one form to another, but can never be created or destroyed.