Chapter 2:DESCRIBING MOTION/

Newtons Law of Motion

Topics covered

Equation of motion in a straight line
Velocity-time graph
Newtons laws of motion
Coefficient of friction
Application of friction
Simple problems on mechanics involving Newtons
laws and friction
Equation of motion in a
straight line
Initial Velocity (u);
Final Velocity (v),
Acceleration (a),
Distance Traveled (s),
Displacement (Ax) and
Time elapsed (t).
The equations which tell us the relationship between
these variables are as given below.
2
2 2
2
1
2
at ut s
as u v
at u v
+ =
+ =
+ =
Distance or displacement
Distance traveled and displacement are
different. When you traveled 50 km to the
East and then 20 km to the West, the total
distance you traveled is 70 km, but your
displacement is 30 km East.
Displacement, Ax = x
f
x
i
where xf is the final position
xi is the initial position.
Motion: Distance, Velocity, and Acceleration
Distance



Final velocity
t
v v
vt s
|
.
|

\
|
+
= =
2
0 2
0
2
1
at t v s + =
at v v + =
0
as v v 2
2
0
2
+ =
Force
Any influence that can change momentum of an object either
direction, magnitude or both.
Force can be defined as a push or a pull.
Technically, force is something that can accelerate objects.
Example:
when you throw a baseball, you apply a force to the ball.
Force is measured by N (Newton).
A force that causes an object with a mass of 1 kg to accelerate
at 1 m/s
2
is equivalent to 1 Newton. (F=ma)
Net force
The sum of all forces acting on an object.
Example, in a tag of war, when one team is
pulling the tag with a force of 100 N and the
other with 80 N,
the net force would be 20 N at the direction of the
first team (100 N - 80 N = 20 N).
Position-time Graph
shows the relationship
between time and position
From the graph:
find the average velocity of
the object at any given time
interval
the instantaneous velocity
at any given time
Time (t) 0 1 2 3 4 5
Position (s) 0 20 50 130 150 200
Example:
A particles moves along the x axis. Its x coordinates varies
with time according to the expression x = -4t + 2t
2
, where x
is in meters and t is in second. The position-time graph for
this motion is shown in figure below.
determine the displacement of the particle in the time
intervals t = 0s to t = 1s and t = 1s to t= 3s
Calculate the average velocity in the time intervals t = 0
to t = 1s and t = 1s to t = 3s.
Find the instantaneous velocity of the particle at t = 2.5s
distance versus time
-4
-2
0
2
4
6
8
10
12
14
16
18
0 1 2 3 4 5
t(s)
x
(
m
)
Answer (a)
The displacement can be calculated as
Ax = x
f
x
i
= -2 0 = -2 m
For the second interval,
at t = 1 s, x(m) = -2 m and at t = 3 s, x(m) = 6 m.
Ax = x
f
x
i
= 6 (-2) = 8 m
(b)
For the first time interval, the displacement, Ax, is -2 m so by
using the formula for average velocity:





For the second interval, the displacement is 8 m, time interval
At = 3 1 = 2 s.
s m
s
m
V / 2
1
2
= =
s m
s
m
V / 4
2
8
= =
(c)
By drawing a tangential line at the graph at time t = 2.5s and
calculate its slope we find the instantaneous velocity v = 6 m/s
We can also differentiate the equation x = -4t + 2t
2

s m v
s m t v
t t
dt
d
dt
dx
v
/ 6 ) 5 . 2 1 ( 4
/ ) 1 ( 4
) 2 4 (
2
= + =
+ =
+ = =
Velocity-time Graph
shows the relationship between
velocity and time.
Example, if a car moves at
constant velocity of 5 m/s for 10
seconds, you can draw a velocity-
time graph that looks like this:
The area below the line
represents the displacement the
object traveled since it can be
calculated by xy, or (time *
velocity) which equals to
displacement
Example
The velocity of a particle
moving along the x axis
varies in time according to
the expression v = (40-5t
2
)
m/s, where t is in second.
Find the average
acceleration in the time
interval t = 0 to t = 2 s

velocity vs time
-50
-40
-30
-20
-10
0
10
20
30
40
50
0 1 2 3 4
t(s)
v
(
m
/
s
)
From the expression v = (40-5t
2
) we can calculate the value
of v when t
i
= 0 and t
f
= 2.
For t
i
= 0;
vi= (40 5t
2
)
= (40-5(0)2) = 40 m/s
For t
f
= 2s;
vf= (40-5(2)2)
= (40 5(4))
= 40 20= 20 m/s
Therefore the average acceleration in the time interval t = 1
to t = 2 s is:
s m
t t
v v
a
i f
i f
/ 10
0 2
40 20
=

=
Inertia
Inertia is the resistance of an object to a
change in its state of motion.
The more of inertia that an object that rest
has, the more of an object resists changing in
state.
Inertia is a measure of mass
Newtons Laws of Motion
Newtons First Law of Motion
Newtons Second Law of Motion
Newtons Third Law of Motion
1
st
Law
An object in motion will remain in motion,
with constant velocity,
and an object at rest will remain at rest unless
acted upon by an external force.
Sometimes called the Law of Inertia
2
nd
Law
Newton's First Law deals with an object with no net
force.
Newton's Second Law talks about an object that has
net force.
It states that when the net force acting on an object
is not zero, the object will accelerate at the
direction of the exerted force.
The acceleration is directly proportional to the net
force and inversely proportional to the mass.
where:
F is the net force in N,
m is the mass of an object in
kg and
a is its acceleration in m/s2
we can say that force is
something that accelerates
an object.

F = ma
Questions
How much net force is required to accelerate
a 1000 kg car at 5.00 m/s
2
? (5000N)
If you apply a net force of 1 N on 200g book,
what is the acceleration of the book? (5m/ s
2
)
3
rd
Law
When one object applies a force on a second
object,
the second object applies a force on the first
that has an equal magnitude but opposite
direction.

Newtons third Law
For example, when you push on a wall, the
wall will also push back on you with an equal
and opposite force.
Question
What is the net force on 200 g ball when it hits
a wall with acceleration of 10 m/s
2
? (2N)
Mass & Weight
Mass and weight are different in physics.
Example:
your mass doesn't change when you go to the
Moon,
but your weight does.
Mass shows the quantity, and
weight shows the size of gravity.
How to calculate your weight?
If you know your mass, you can easily find
your weight because
W = mg
W is weight in Newton (N),
m is mass in kg, and
g is the acceleration of gravity in m/s
2
.
If mass is 70 kg on Earth,
weight is W=(70 kg)(9.8 m/s
2
) = 686 N.
Question
Calculate the mass of an object that has a
weight of 115 N on the Moon? The gravity of
the Moon is 1/6 of g (which is 9.8 m/s
2
).
m=W/g
=115/[1/6(9.8)] = 70.4kg
Exercises:
1. Determine the acceleration, when a
12-N net force applied to a 3-kg object
and a 6-kg object?
2. A net force of 16 N causes a mass to
accelerate at a rate of 5 m/s2.
Determine the mass.
3. A object weighing 125N hangs from
a cable tied to two other cables
fastened to a support, as in the figure
below. The upper cables make angles
of 37.5
o
and 53.0
o
with the horizontal.
Find the tension in the three cables.
37
0

53
0

object
T
I
T
2

T
3

Answers:
1) Using F = ma
4 m/s
2
and 2 m/s
2
2)

3.2 kg
3) Draw FBD
T
3

W
T
1

T
2

-T
3

3)
From the first FBD, we have two forces acting on the object.
We know that W is 125 N so T3 must also be 125 N.
From the second FBD, we can construct the following table:
Forces x-Component y-Component
T1 -T
1
cos 37.0
o
T
1
sin 37.0
o
T2 T
2
cos 53.0
o
T
2
sin 53.0
o
T3 0 -125N
For the x component:
Fx= -T
1
cos 37.0
o
+ T
2
cos 53.0
o
= 0
Fy= T
1
sin 37.0
o
+ T
2
sin 53.0
o
+ (-125 N) = 0
Try to solve it.. You should get the answer for:
T
1
= 75.1 N
T
2
= 1.33(T
1
) = 1.33(75.1)= 99.9N
Friction
Friction is the force that acts between two objects in contact
because of action-reaction.
When you slide your book on floor, it will come to stop
because of the force of friction.
There are two type of friction:
a. Static friction
b. Kinematics friction
Normal force:
if a force F is applied to an object on a rough surface,
a frictional force of the same magnitude, -F, is produce in the
opposite direction of F.
The object is now under equilibrium.
N
F -F
W
How to calculate force of friction?
where:
F
f
:force of friction in N,
: coefficient of friction,
F
N
:normal force in N.

The value of depends on
surface you are dealing
with
Example:
if you throw a 500 g book on floor where = 0.1, the force
of friction would be:
F
f
= = (0.1)(0.5 * 9.8) = 0.49 N

Calculate the value of if the force of friction on a 300g
book was 0.5 N?
=0.5/(0.3*9.8)=0.17
Application of Friction
Walking:
Static friction is the force that propels a person forward when walking.
On a slippery surface, i.e. almost no friction, a human could not stand
or walk without slipping.
Tug of Wars:
The team with the highest static friction force has the advantage in tug
of wars. These contests are not won by pulling harder.
Lets do some exercises
Simple problems on mechanics involving
Newtons Laws and Frictions