8

AGGS

Physics
Forces and motion
Lesson booklet ANSWERS
Name: ………………………………… Class/form ………….
Physics teacher: …………………………………………….….

Motion (p2)

The Speed of an object is a measure of how fast it is going.

Speed is defined as the rate of change of distance.

Speed

This can be written as the equation:

distance
speed=
time
Practice questions:
1. A walker moves at a speed of 4m/s over a distance of 1000m. How long does her journey take?

1000/4 = 250 s

2. A cyclist completes a journey of 3km in half an hour. What is her speed in m/s?

3000/(60x30) = 1.67 m/s

3. How long does it take a pedestrian to walk down a 2km street if she walks at 2m/s?

2000/2 = 1000s or 16.7 mins

4. A bus takes two hours to drive to Birmingham from Manchester, a distance of approximately 146 Km.

a) Calculate the speed during the journey in km/h

146/2 = 73 km/h

b) Explain why it is unlikely that the bus travelled at this speed for the whole of the journey.
It is an average speed. Bus would likely have stopped/started/accelerated/decelerated along the
journey……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
c) There is 1.6 km in a mile. Convert the Manchester to Birmingham distance into miles.
 91.25 miles

d) The SR-71 is the fastest plane ever built and can travel at 2000 miles per
hour. How long would it take to cover the same distance?

91.25/2000 = 0.0456 hrs or 2.74 mins

You should remember some typical speeds:

Walking 1.5 m/s

Running 3 m/s
cycling ̴ 8 m/s
speed of sound in air 330m/s

Velocity (p3)

Velocity is speed in a specified direction.

An object can change speed by changing speed or by changing direction.

e.g. a cyclist going round a circular path at a constant rate is changing velocity.

Acceleration

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity

It is a measure of how rapidly an object is speeding up or slowing down (or changing direction).
velocity change v−u
acceleration= ∨a=
time t

Where v = final velocity and u = initial velocity

Practice questions:
1. A cyclist increases her velocity from rest to 10m/s in 5s. Calculate her acceleration.
10/5 = 2 m/s2
2. A car has an acceleration of 5m/s2 for 7s. By how much does its velocity change in this time?

5 x 7 = 35 m/s
3. A dog travelling at 3m/s sees a cat and increases his velocity to 8m/s in 0.7s. What is his acceleration?
(8 – 3)/0.7 = 7.14 m/s2

4. A runner accelerates at 3m/s2 for 1.5s. What velocity does her reach if he starts from rest?
3 x 1.5 = 4.5 m/s
5. A cyclist accelerates for 5s at a rate of 2.5m/s2. He starts at 2m/s. What is his final velocity?

(2.5 x 5) + 2 = 14.5 m/s

6. When a flea jumps it accelerates from rest to 1.2m/s in 1ms. Find its average acceleration.

1.2/10-3 = 1200 m/s2

An object can accelerate by changing speed or by changing direction

v2 = u2 + 2as

Another useful equation of motion (p4)

Where: u = initial velocity
V = final velocity
S = the distance (or displacement) travelled
Take acceleration downwards due to gravity as 10 m/s2
1. A car travelling at 20m/s decelerates to rest at a rate of -5m/s2. What distance does it travel during
deceleration?

0 = 400 - 2 x 5 x s -> s = 400/10 = 40 m

2. A cyclist travelling at 1.5m/s accelerates at 2m/s2 over a distance of 3m. What is his final velocity?

v = √(1.52 + 2 x 2 x 3) = 3.8 m/s

3. A ball is dropped from rest from a wall of height 2.5m, what is its velocity when it reaches the
ground?

v = √(0 + 2 x 10 x 2.5) = 7.1 m/s

 4. A ball is thrown in the air with a velocity of 9m/s. What is the greatest height reached by the ball?

s = (0 – 92)/(2 x - 10) = 4.05 m

5. A car accelerates at 3m/s2 to 25m/s over a distance of 10m. What was the original velocity of the
car?

u = √(252 – (2 x 3 x 10)) = 23.8 m/s

6. What is the braking distance of a car if it decelerates from a velocity of 30m/s to a velocity of 5m/s
in 5s?

First calculate acceleration as a = (5 – 30)/5 = -5 m/s2

Then braking distance is s = (25 – 900)/(2 x -5) = 87.5 m

Motion Graphs - describe the motion of objects (p5)

Distance time graphs
Object at rest (stationary) Object moving at a steady speed

distance/m distance/m

time/s time/s
Moving at steady speed and then slowing to a stop Object accelerating
 distance/m distance/m

time/s time/s

 The gradient (steepness/slope) of a distance time graph is equal to the distance divided by the time.
This gives the speed of the object.
Task
1. A sprinter ran in a 100 m race. The graph
shows what happened :
a) What was the runner’s time for the 100 m
race? …12s……………………………..……………

b) Calculate the runner’s average speed for the

race.

100/12 = 8.3 m/s

c) Describe how the runner’s speed was
changing at each of the points A, B, C, D.
A-accelerating
B-constant speed
C-decelerating
D-stationary
d) At which point was the speed greatest? Explain your choice. B – the largest gradient (steepest) means the
highest speed on a distance time graph
e) What distance was needed to stop at the end of the race? 24 m
Velocity time graphs
Constant velocity Constant acceleration
velocity (m/s) velocity (m/s)

time (s) time (s)

Constant deceleration Decreasing acceleration, until velocity becomes
 constant
velocity (m/s) velocity (m/s)

time (s) time (s)

 The gradient of a velocity-time graph is equal to the change in velocity ÷ time

 This means that the gradient of a velocity-time graph is equal to the acceleration.
 When the graph isn’t a straight line, the gradient is found by drawing a tangent.
 The distance travelled is equal to the average velocity x time taken. This means that the distance
travelled is equal to the area under a velocity-time graph (the area between the graph line and the
time axis.)
 Task
Here is a graph for a toy car moving in a
straight line :
a) What is the maximum speed of the car?
1.5 m/s
b) How long does it take to reach maximum
speed from rest? 1 s
c) Calculate the acceleration of the car from
P to Q.
1.5 m/s2
d)What is the distance travelled by the car,
i) from P to Q? 0.75 m
ii) from Q to R? 1.5 m
e) What is the average speed of the car from P to R? 0.75 m/s
Challenging Practice Questions: Describing and Calculating from Graphs of both types (first one done for you p7)

d-t graph description d-t graph description

steady speed steady speed opposite direction

speed = 20 / 10 = 2 m/s speed = -2m/s

v-t graph description v-t graph description
constant acceleration constant deceleration

acceleration = (20-0)/10 = 2 m/s2 acceleration = - 2m/s2

distance = ½ 10 x 20 = 100 m distance = 100m

d-t graph description d-t graph description

stationary steady speed

speed = 0 m/s speed = 1 m/s
v-t graph description v-t graph description

constant velocity constant acceleration

2
acceleration = 0 m/s acceleration = 1 m/s2

distance = 200 m distance = 200 + 50 = 250 m

d-t graph description d-t graph description

acceleration deceleration
average speed = 2 m/s average speed = 2 m/s
v-t graph description v-t graph description
increasing acceleration decreasing acceleration
 Name Friction................................................
Contact Force / Acts at a Distance? Name Compression.......................................
Description.................................................... Contact Force / Acts at a Distance?
...................................................................... Description....................................................
......................................................................
Name Drag (e.g. air and water resistance)....
Contact Force / Acts at a Distance?
Name Upthrust.............................................. Description....................................................
Contact Force / Acts at a Distance? ......................................................................
Description....................................................
......................................................................
Force names
Name Normal reaction..................................
Contact Force / Acts at a Distance?
Description....................................................
Name Magnetic............................................. ......................................................................
Contact Force / Acts at a Distance?
Description.................................................... Name Tension...............................................
...................................................................... Contact Force / Acts at a Distance?
Description....................................................
......................................................................

Name Weight................................................ Name Electrostatic........................................

Contact Force / Acts at a Distance? Contact Force / Acts at a Distance?
Description.................................................... Description....................................................
...................................................................... ......................................................................
Resultant force (p9)
When more than one force acts on an object, the net or overall force is called the resultant force.
When the forces act in the same direction, they add together to give the resultant force.
When the forces act in opposite direction the difference gives the resultant force.
Resultant force is defined as the single force which can replace several forces acting on an object and
have the same effect

Task: mark on the diagrams below the resultant force (give the size and direction in each case)
1 2
5N
10N 5N 4N
15 N to the right 1N to the left
3 4
10N
3N 3N 8N
0 N / no resultant force / balanced forces 18 N to the right

A force is a vector quantity. It has a size and a direction. More on vectors later.
If 2 forces are equal and opposite, they are balanced. The resultant force is zero.

Example
4 forces are acting on an object as shown:
What is the resultant force?

The 2 N North and the 2 N South are

balanced and cancel each other.
The resultant of 4 N East and 3 N West
is a force of 1 N acting East.
So the object moves East as though there
is a single resultant force of 1 N.

Practice question
Tom, Dick and Harry are all pulling on a hoop. Tom pulls North with a force of 90 N, and Dick pulls East with
a force of 120 N.

a) What is their resultant force? 150 N (53o from North direction – between N and E)
b) If the hoop is not moving, what force is Harry exerting? Harry must exert an equal force to the
resultant of Tom and Dick, 150N, in the opposite direction


 Resultant force = 0 N Resultant force = 0 N
Car will stay stationary Car will stay at constant velocity of 30 m/s

Resultant force = 0 N Resultant force = 0 N

Ladder will stay stationary Helicopter will stay stationary

Resultant force = 0 N Resultant force = 0 N

Helicopter will stay at constant velocity of 100 m/s skydiver will stay at constant velocity of 55 m/s

What is incorrect about the way in which the diagrams have been drawn above? In free-body diagrams,
the arrow length represents the size of the force and the arrows start from the centre of the object

 Redraw Q5 as a free body force diagram

Forces and scale diagrams (p11)
Forces can be shown by arrows, which show the direction, and have a length drawn to a scale (eg. 1 cm for
10 N).

1. Using a ruler and a scale of 1 cm for 10 N, draw diagrams for each of the following:
a) A force of 20 N acting East. 20 N (2cm line)

b) The resultant of 30 N acting East, and 40 N also acting East.

70 N (7cm)

c) The resultant of 30 N acting East, and 40N acting West. 10 N (1cm line)

d) The resultant of 20 N East, 40 N West and 50 N East. 30 N (3cm line)

Finding the resultant using scale drawings

If two forces (F1 and F2) are acting at an angle to each other, the resultant (R)
can be found by drawing the diagonal between the parallelogram formed by
the two forces.

1. An object has 2 forces on it: a force of 80 N acting East and a force of 60 N acting North.

a) Draw a scale diagram of this, using 1 cm for 10 N.

These 2 lines form 2 sides of a rectangle.
Draw the rest of the rectangle, accurately.
The resultant of these 2 forces is found by drawing the diagonal of the rectangle, from the object.
This line represents the resultant force.

60 N

b) What is the size of the resultant force, in N? 100 N

80 N
c) What is the direction of the resultant force, exactly?36.9° from the 60N force or 53.1° from the
60N force
 3.Use a scale diagram to find the magnitude (size) of the resultant force when a force of 60N and a force
of 75N act 60o to each other. 11.893 N
75 N

60°
60 N
Vectors and scalars

Vectors are quantities which have magnitude (size) and direction.

Scalars have direction only.

Place the following quantities into the appropriate column of the table:
Distance, velocity, acceleration, force, mass, energy, time,
speed, displacement, weight scalars vectors
Distance Displacement
Mass Weight
Energy Acceleration
Time Force
Speed Velocity
Resolving vectors
Sometimes it is useful for us to find two perpendicular vectors whose resultant is the given vector V. The
perpendicular vectors are known as the horizontal and vertical components of V.
vertical component of F
consider force F at angle Ɵ
to the horizontal
F F

Ɵ Ɵ

Horizontal component of F

The components can be found using scale diagrams.

Choose a suitable scale and draw a rectangle around the force.
Then simply measure the sides to find the magnitude of the horizontal and vertical components.
 Ɵ

Resolving vectors questions (p13)

1. A boat is pulled along a canal using a rope tied to its bow. The rope makes an angle of 15º with the
centre line of the canal and the force applied to the rope is 1800N. Calculate the component of the 1800 N
force pulling the boat along the canal and the component of the 1800N force pulling the boat to the side of
the canal. Along the canal: = 1740N
Side of the canal: 466N
2. A dog is pulling on his lead with a force of 40N at an angle of 26º below the horizontal. Show that the
horizontal component of this force is about 36N.
3. After take-off, an aircraft climbs at a rate of 150 ms-1 at an angle of 30º to the ground. What are the
magnitudes of the horizontal and vertical components of its velocity?
Horizontal = 130m/s
Vertical = 75 m/s
4. A wind is blowing at 15 ms-1 in a north-easterly direction. Find the components of the winds velocity
which blow towards the north and towards the east.
North: 11m/s
East: 11 m/s
5. A glider is traveling at a velocity of 20.0 ms-1 at an angle of 15º below the horizontal. Find the horizontal
and vertical components of the glider’ velocity.
Horizontal = 19 m/s
Vertical = 5.2 m/s
Mass and Weight (p14)
Mass is the amount of matter (substance) contained within an object and is measured in kg.
Weight is the force of gravity acting on the object and is measured in N
Weight = mass x gravitational field strength OR W=mxg

Gravitational field strength (g)

On Earth gravitational field strength is 9.8N/kg.
This means that each kg of matter experience 9.8N of gravity.
It is often rounded up to 10N/kg.
Different planets have different values for gravitational field strength depending on the mass of the planet.
Questions
1. Can you jump higher on the Earth or the moon? Explain why. On the moon because there is less gravity
on the moon than on Earth
2. A plate of chips has a mass of 463 g. Calculate its weight:
a. On Earth (g = 10) 0.463 x 10 = 4.63 N

b. On the moon (g = 2) 0.463 x 2 = 0.926 N

c. On Jupiter (g = 21) 0.463 x 21 = 9.723 N

d. outer space (g = ?) 0N

3. What is the weight of a hammer of mass 1kg? 1 x 10 = 10 N

4. What is the weight of a 500g pack of butter? 0.5 x 10 = 5 N

5. A small dog has a weight of 110N; what is his mass? 110/10 = 11 kg

6. An astronaut and his suit have a mass of 100kg. What is his weight on the Moon if the gravitational
field strength is 1/6 of Earth’s? 100 x 10 x 1/6 = 167 N
 Work and energy (p15)
When a force acts on an object and makes it move, we say that it ‘does work’ on the object. The amount
of work that a force does appears as a transfer of energy from one form to another.
Examples:
If you push a toy car, your push force does work on the car transferring chemical energy from your
muscles into kinetic energy of the car.

If you drop a ball, gravity does work on the ball and this appears as gravitational potential energy.

If you stretch a spring, your pull force does work on it and the spring stores this energy as elastic potential
energy

If you are travelling at speed in a car and need to slow down, the braking force will do work against the car
and transfer the kinetic energy of the car into heat energy in the brake discs.

You have already learned that energy can be transferred usefully, stored or dissipated, but cannot be
created or destroyed. A system that dissipates only a relatively small amount of the input energy is said to
be efficient.
What factors affect the work done by a force?
In the last example we saw that friction transfers energy as heat. But how much heat?

Rub your hands together; what would you do to release more heat?

Move hands faster/ press together harder

You probably said to rub faster or harder; rubbing faster means your hands move further back and forth (in
a given time); pressing harder increases the friction force. So you do more work if the force is greater or if
the distance the force works over is greater.

The man pushes the box through 1m, using a

force of 100N. He does some work on the box,
which appears as kinetic energy of the box and
heat.

What happens to the amount of work if he pushes the box for 2m with a force of 100N? It doubles

What happens to the amount of work if he pushes the box for 2m with a force of 200N? It quadruples

What is the relationship between work done and force? Directly proportional

What is the relationship between work done and distance? Directly proportional
 Work done (J) = Force (N) x WD
distance moved in the direction of the force (m)

Complete the triangle to help you rearrange the equation

Fxd
Practice (p16): use the formula for work done
1. What is the work done by a girl on a box if she pushes it across the floor with a force of 200N for 3m?
200 x 3 = 600 J
2. What is the work done by the brakes of a car if they apply a force of 1000N over a distance of 5m?
1000 x 5 = 5000 J
3. The work done by gravity on a stone is 50J when it falls a distance of 2m. What is the force of gravity
on the stone? Challenge: what is the stone’s mass? 50 J / 2 m = 25 N
GPE = mgh, 50 = m x 10 x 2 --> m = 2.5 kg
4. A constant force of 500N is applied to a bicycle by the brakes. In what distance does the bicycle stop if
the work done is 1500J? Challenge: what form is energy transferred into by the braking force?
1500/500 = 3 m Heat and sound energy
5. An athlete raises a 500N weight to a height of 2m. He completes 10 repetitions. Calculate the total
work done by the weightlifter. How much energy is transferred by the weightlifter’s muscles?
500 x 2 x 10 = 10000 J

Question 5 is like a common exam question. When you have used the formula to find work done
they often ask a follow up question: “How much energy is transferred by ... [1 mark]”. This is to
check you know that the work done by a force is the energy transferred by the action of the force;
so the answer is just the same as the answer you worked out in the previous part.

More about work done by friction

Brake discs are made of materials that can withstand very high temperatures. Use your knowledge and
understanding of work done and energy to explain why this is the case.
Reduces damage from heat energy transfer when brakes are applied..............................................
..............................................................................................................................................................
When a meteor (or the space shuttle) re-enters the atmosphere it glows red-hot. Explain why.
It experiences a large amount of friction in Earth’s atmosphere, transferring a lot of heat which is seen as
red........................................................................................................................................................
..............................................................................................................................................................
For appliances/systems with moving parts, the most obvious place to reduce production of waste heat
energy is through reducing the effects of friction.
The engine of a car has many thousands of moving metal parts. These would rub against one another
converting kinetic energy into heat and wearing out the parts.
To reduce the energy dissipated by friction we can use a lubricant. Explain how a lubricant works.
Lubricant makes surfaces smoother, hence it reduces friction and therefore heat energy..............
A practical work out: Carry out each of the following tasks and do some work by following the
instructions given. Then calculate how much work you have done.
Station Instructions

a) Use the floor scales to measure your own weight in newtons.

Step onto a
b) Step on and off a low platform.
platform
c) Measure the height of the platform.

a) Measure the weight using a newtonmeter.

Raise a weight b) Lift the weight off the floor onto the bench.
c) Measure the height gained by the weight.

a) Pull the box a certain distance across the bench surface, using a newton meter to
Pull a box measure the pull force.
b) Measure the distance moved by the box.

a) Measure the weight of a block.

Make a tower b) Measure the height of a block.
block
c) Make a tower of four blocks.

Results table
Station Calculation of work done

Work done to step onto the platform

Step onto a platform
= weight x height of platform =

Raise a weight Work done to raise the weight

= weight x height raise =

Work done on the box

Pull a box = pull force x distance move =

Work done to raise ‘1st floor’ block into place

= weight ´ height of block
=
Work done to raise ‘2nd floor’ block into place
= weight ´ height of two blocks
Make a tower block
=
Work done to raise ‘3rd floor’ block into place
= weight ´ height of three blocks
=
Total work done =
Power (p18)
Power is the rate of doing work or the energy transferred per second.
[From the electricity unit: the power of appliances tells us how quickly they transfer electrical energy]

Power (W) = Energy transferred (J) ÷ Time taken (s)

E
Complete the triangle to help you rearrange the equation
Pxt

Practice: calculations using work, energy and power.

1. Calculate the energy transferred in 10 minutes by a 40W motor.

40 x (10 x 60) s = 24000 J
2. What is the power of a motor that does 1kJ of work in 10s?
1000/10 = 100 W
3. How long does it take for a 2kW motor to transfer 200kJ of energy?
200000/2000 = 100 s
4. What is the power of a ski lift that lifts chairs and people of total mass 2000kg to a height of 50m in 100s? (Find
the gain in gravitational potential energy first)
GPE = 2000 x 10 x 50 = 1000000 J
Power = 1000000/100 = 10000 W

5. A Segway’s electric motor increases its speed from 0 to 5m/s in 2s. Calculate the energy transferred to kinetic if
the mass of the Segway and rider is 150kg. Calculate the power of the motor.
KE = 0.5 x 150 x 52 = 1875 J
Power = 1875/2 = 937.5 W

6. If the Segway in Q5 is only 75% efficient, what power does the motor need to produce the same motion? What
power is needed if the Segway also climbs 2m uphill in the same 2s?
937.5/0.75= 1250 W

GPE = 150 x 10 x 2 = 3000 J

Total energy = 3000 J + 1875 J = 4875 J
Total new power = 4875/ 2 s = 2437.5 W
75% efficient so total power needed = 2437.5/0.75=3250 W
An energetic challenge - To practise calculations involving force, distance and work done. (p19)

1. How much work do you do when you are at the gym or a fitness centre?
Complete the table below for four different fitness activities.

Task Force in Newton’s Distance moved in Work done in joules

metres

a) Weightlifting 150 1.2 180

b) Exercise cycling 20 30 600

c) Bodybuilding 60 1.5 90

d) Rowing (20 strokes) 50 20 ´ 0.8 800

2. In a ‘keep-fit’ exercise, a student of mass 45 kg steps 40 times on and off a box of height 0.50 m.
a) Calculate the weight of the student.

45 kg x 10 N/kg = 450 N............................................................................................................................

..................................................................................................................................................................

b) i) How much work does the student do to raise her body each time she steps on the box?

450 N x 0.5 m = 225 J.........................................................................................................................

...........................................................................................................................................................

ii) How much work does she do in 40 steps?

225 J x 40 x 2 = 9000 J........................................................................................................................
...........................................................................................................................................................

c) The student takes 60 s to take 40 steps. Calculate her average power output in this time.
9000 J / 30 s = 300W.................................................................................................................................

3. A student of weight 480 N takes 15 s to run 100 m up a 1 in 20 slope. Calculate his average power.

480 N x 100 m = 48000 J, Power = 48000 J/ 15 s = 3200 W.............................................................................

Challenge – calculate your personal power when running up stairs

Weight ………………………………… N Work done = ………….. x …………….. = ………………. J
Average height of a stair ………. m workdone … … … … … … ..
power= ¿
Number of stairs: …………………….. timetaken … … … … … … ..
Vertical height climbed …………..m power = ....................W
Time taken: ………………………….… s
Stretching springs (p20)

Required practical activity 6: investigate the relationship between force and extension for a spring.

The spring obeys Hooke’s Law:-

The extension is directly proportional to the force applied, provided that the limit of proportionality is not
exceeded.

What does ‘directly proportional’ look like on a graph? Straight line through the origin

Stating Hooke’s Law in an exam is usually 2 marks – one of them is for the underlined part, so learn it!

Do any of the other objects obey Hooke’s Law? How do you know? Elastic objects (eg bungee cord) which
return to their initial shape after being streched

What does ‘directly proportional’ mean, mathematically? One factor increases by the same proportion as
another, following the relationship y = mx – i.e. doubling one doubles the other

Force (N) = Spring constant (N/m) x Extension (m)

Or F=kxe

Remember that extension means ‘how much longer it gets’; so the new length of the spring will be its
original length plus the extension, as you found in your experiment.
F
kxe
Complete the triangle to help rearrange the equation.

Practice: use Hooke’s Law and show full working

1. A spring with a spring constant of 10N/m is stretched by 0.1m. How much force was applied?
10 N/m x 0.1 m = 1 N

2. A spring of spring constant 5N/m has a force of 0.2N applied to it. What is its extension?
0.2 N / 5 N/m = 0.04 m
3. The spring in Q2 has original length 0.30m and is stretched by a force of 2N. What is its new length?
2 N / 5 N/m = 0.4 m, 0.3 + 0.4 = 0.7 m
4. When a force of 0.80N is applied to a spring, it stretches by 10cm. What is the spring constant?

0.8 N / 0.1 m = 8 N/m

5. A spring of length 20cm stretches to a new length of 25cm when a force of 1N is applied. What is the
spring constant?
Extension = 25 – 20 = 5 cm = 0.05 m
k = 1 N / 0.05 m = 20 N/m
6. When a force of 1.2N is applied to a spring it extends by 3cm. What will the extension be if a force of
3.6N is applied?
3.6 / 1.2 = 3
-> 3 x 3 cm = 9 cm

7. A spring extends by 0.5cm when a force of 0.9N is stretching it. How much force will it take to stretch it
by a further 0.25cm?

0.5 + 0.25 = 0.75 cm = 0.0075 m

k = 0.9 N / 0.005 m = 180 N/m
F = 180 N/m x 0.0075 m = 1.35 N

Energy and Springs

When the spring is stretched (or compressed) it stores elastic potential energy equal to:

Energy (J) = ½ x Spring constant (N/m) x Extension2 (m2)

The energy stored is the same as the work done by the stretching force (so long as the stretching is not
inelastic).
Calculate the energy stored in the spring in each of the situations in question 1-7 above.
1 0.5 x 10 N/m x 0.12 m2 = 0.05 J

2 0.5 x 5 x 0.042 = 0.004 J (4 x 10-3)

3 0.5 x 5 x 0.42 = 0.4 J

4 0.5 x 8 x 0.12 = 0.04 J

5 0.5 x 20 x 0.052 = 0.025 J (2.5 x 10-2)

6 0.5 x 40 x 0.032 = 0.018 J (1.8 x 10-2)

7 0.5 x 180 x (5 x 10-3)2 = 2.25 x 10-3 J

 Newton’s Laws (p22)

Newton’s First Law states that an object remains at rest or moves in a straight line at constant
speed unless a resultant force acts on it.

The air track can be used to illustrate Newton’s First Law. Explain how.
With reduced friction, the car will continue moving at the same speed
u

ntil it reaches the end of the track.

Why does a car travelling at steady speed need the engine to be running?
So the driving force is equal to the drag and friction forces
When the resultant force on an object is zero, the object is said to be in equilibrium. This means that the

object is either stationary or moving at a constant velocity

How are force and acceleration related?

2 kg 10 N 2 kg 20 N

Acceleration is 5 m/s2 Acceleration? 10 m/s2

2 kg 10 N 1 kg 10 N

Acceleration is 5 m/s2 Acceleration? 10 m/s2

What’s the relationship between force & acceleration? Directly proportional

What’s the relationship between mass & acceleration? Indirectly proportional

Inertia is the reluctance of an object to change its motion. The bigger the mass of an object, the more it
resists changes to its motion. It takes more force to get a large mass to speed up or slow down

Newton’s second Law describes the relationship between an objects mass and acceleration when a force is
applied and can be written as the equation:

Resultant force (N) = mass (kg) x acceleration (m/s 2)

F
Complete the triangle to help rearrange the equation mxa
Newton’s second law questions (p23)
1. What is the resultant force on a car of mass 1020kg accelerating at 3m/s 2?
1020 kg x 3 m/s2 = 3060 N
2. A cyclist of mass 50kg is riding a bicycle of mass 30kg. She exerts a resultant force of 160N on the
bicycle. What is the acceleration?
50 kg + 30 kg = 80 kg
Acceleration = 160 N / 80 kg = 2 m/s2
3. A truck is accelerated at 5m/s2 by a force of 10000N. What is the mass of the truck?
10000 N / 5 m/s2 = 2000 kg
4. The force due to a car’s engine is 2000N and the force of air resistance is 1500N. What is the resultant
force? What is the acceleration if the car has a mass of 1500kg?
2000 N – 1500 N = 500 N
Acceleration = 500 N / 1500 kg = 0.333 m/s2
5. A runner accelerates at 10m/s2, with a resultant force of 800N. What is his mass?
800 N / 10 m/s2 = 80 kg

Terminal Velocity
increase, smaller, constant, balance, accelerates, particles, decelerate, decrease,
increases, terminal velocity, weight
Complete the sentences below using the word from the box
1. At the start of his jump the air resistance is smaller than the force of gravity so he accelerates
downwards.
2. As his speed increases his air resistance will increase because more air particles are colliding with
him.
3. Eventually the air resistance will be big enough to balance the skydiver’s weight. At this point the
forces are balanced so his speed becomes constant- this is called TERMINAL VELOCITY
4. When he opens his parachute the air resistance suddenly increases, causing him to decelerate.
5. Because he is slowing down his air resistance will decrease again until it balances his weight. The
skydiver has now reached a new, lower terminal velocity.
Draw arrows on the diagrams below to show the forces acting on the skydiver at each of the stages
described above

1 2 3 4 5
Speed time graph for a parachute jump(p24)
This graph shows how Tom’s speed changed during his parachute jump.
• At point 1 Tom has just
jumped out of the plane. He
has only just started moving
downwards, so his speed is
very low and he does not
have much air resistance.
He is accelerating because his
weight is pulling him
downwards.
• At point 2 Tom is moving
downwards at 40 m/s. His air
resistance is increasing,
because he is moving faster.
His weight is still bigger than
his air resistance, so he is still
accelerating, but not as quickly as when he first jumped out of the plane.

1 a Is Tom still accelerating at point 3? Yes

b How big is his air resistance compared to his weight? Explain your answer. Air resistance at point 3 is
less than his weight since he is accelerating

2 At point 4 Tom has stopped accelerating. How “big” is his air resistance now, compared to his weight?

They are equal

3 What do you think has happened at point 5? Explain your answer. The parachute has been opened
because he is quickly decelerating

4 a What two forces are acting on Tom at point 6? His weight due to gravity and air resistance

b Which force is the biggest? Explain your answer. Air resistance because he is decelerating

c How will these forces change over the next few seconds? They will balance out one another

5 a What is happening to Tom at point 7? His weight is equal to air resistance, and so he has reached
terminal velocity

b How big is his air resistance compared to his weight? They are equal

6 What has happened at point 8? He has landed

Motion through a fluid and terminal velocity (p25)
Recall from Unit 1 (where you studied heat transfer) that ‘fluid’ is a shorthand word for ‘liquid or gas’.
Choose the words for the spaces:
number collide force opposite to particles

When you move through a fluid you continually collide with the particles of the fluid. Although each
particle is tiny, there are a huge number of them, and the overall effect of those tiny collisions is a large
force acting opposite to the way you are moving.

This force is generally called drag; if the fluid happens to be air it is called air resistance.
The drag force increases the faster you go. Can you explain why, in terms of particles and collisions?
Moving faster means more collisions and therefore more resistance/friction
If you go fast enough the drag force becomes as big as the driving force. This will make the resultant force
zero and your speed then remains constant. This is your top speed or terminal velocity.
Ball bearing in a viscous liquid
When a ball bearing is released from rest in wallpaper paste, it accelerates to begin with but eventually
falls with constant velocity. Complete the boxes below to explain how the ball bearing reaches its terminal
velocity. Use the following key words:

Resultant force weight drag acceleration zero equal

drag
upthrust upthrust drag upthrust

weight weight weight

When first released, the ball’s Drag starts to increase, Drag continues to increase
weight is more than the reducing the downwards until it and the upthrust
upthrust, giving it a resultant force and the balances out the ball’s weight.
downwards resultant force acceleration This gives a resultant force and
and causing it to accelerate. Its acceleration of zero. The ball
drag is initially zero. moves downwards at a
constant velocity

Top speed of a car

In a small group, discuss why a car must have a top speed. One of you should sketch diagrams to show the
forces on the car, one of you should sketch a velocity time graph and the other should write an explanation
of no more than five bullet points.
Required practical activity 7: investigate the effect of varying the force on the acceleration of an object of constant
mass, and the effect of varying the mass of an object on the acceleration produced by a constant force.

If an object (A) exerts a force on another object (B), then B exerts an equal and opposite force on A.

In his own words: every action has an equal and opposite reaction

Newton’s Third Law

In this law, ‘equal’ means equal magnitude (same number of newtons) and ‘opposite’ means opposite direction.

In a group discuss the following:

1. Press down on the desk with your hand. What do you notice? Which way does the desk push? What
happens if you press harder? If you press down on the desk with a force of 20N, with how much force
does the desk push back?
2. What do the following diagrams show?

Forces act in pairs that are the same type of force, act on different objects and act in opposite directions.
Example 1: a man trying to step out of a rowing boat
As he steps forward, he puts a force on the boat.
In which direction is the force? Forwards
If he puts a force on the boat, Newton’s Third Law says:-
The force will direct an equal and opposite force on the
man............................................................................................................................

What happens to the boat? It moves in the opposite direction

Example 2:
(i) What is the Newton’s Third Law pair force for the
normal force of the table on the box? The normal force of
the box on the table

(ii) What is the Newton’s Third Law pair force for the
gravitational force of the Earth on the box? The box’s
gravity on the earth

(iii) Can Newton’s Third Law pair forces appear in the same
free body diagram? Why? No, because a free body
diagram shows forces acting on a single body, but
Car stopping distances (p27)

Thinking distance – Defined as the distance a car travels in the time it takes the driver to react. Human
reaction time can be taken as being 0.7 seconds.

What factors affect thinking distance?

1. Speed
2. Distractions
3.Tiredness
4. Influence from a substance/drugs/alcohol

Braking distance - Defined as the distance travelled by a vehicle in

the time it takes to stop safely, from when the brakes are first
applied.
Or… The distance travelled under the braking force

What factors affect Braking distance?

speed Thinking Braking Overall
1. Weather conditions of car distance distance stopping distance
m m m
2. Condition of brakes/tyres
5 m/s 3.5 2 5.5
(11 mph)
3. Mass of the car
10 m/s 7 8 15
4. Speed (22 mph)

15 m/s 10.5 18 28.8

Task (34 mph)

The data in the table are from the Highway Code. 20 m/s 14 32 46
The data is for a car in good condition on a dry road (45 mph)
with an alert driver. 25 m/s 17.5 50 67.5
(56 mph)
1. From the table, calculate the reaction time 30 m/s 21 72 93
of this driver. 21 m / 30 m/s = 0.7 s (67 mph)
2. How would this be affected if the driver
was tired? Increase
3. What else affects his reaction time? Distractions, influence of substances
4. Calculate the thinking distance at a speed of 15m/s. Add it to the table.
0.7 s x 15 m/s = 10.5 m
7. How would braking distance change if the road was wet? Increase
8. What other factors affect the braking distance? See above
9. Looking down the ‘braking distance’ column, what pattern can you see? It dramatically increases as
speed increases (almost exponentially)
10. What happens to the braking distance if the speed is doubled? It quadrupoles
Can you explain this? The Work done required to stop the car increases with speed (KE lost is
proportional to v squared). Since braking force is fixed, the distance must be larger and also
proportional to v squared)
11. Complete the rest of the table:

12. On graph paper, plot a graph of thinking distance against speed. Draw the line of best fit, and label it.
13. On the same axes, plot a graph of braking distance against speed. Draw the line of best fit, and label it.

80

70 f(x) = 0.08 x^2 Thinking

distance
60 Linear
(Thinking
Thinking distance (m)

distance)
50
Braking
distance
40

30

20
f(x) = 0.7 x
10

0
0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35
Speed of the car (m/s)

14. A car travels at 27m/s (60mph). Use your graph to find:

a) the thinking distance 18.9 m
b) the braking distance 58.32 m
c) the total stopping distance. 77.22 m

15. On the same axes, sketch (and label) graphs for:

a) The thinking distances if the driver has drunk alcohol.
b) The braking distances if the tyres are worn.
16. When the driver brakes, the car’s kinetic energy is not lost. What happens to it? It transfers to heat
and sound energy

Momentum
When deciding which of the two vehicles is likely to do the most damage to
the wall, which factors need to be considered?
Mass and velocity
In type of problem we introduce a quantity called momentum.
Momentum = mass x velocity or p=mxv

Momentum is a vector quantity. What are its units? kg m/s

Calculations using momentum
1. What is the momentum of a girl of mass 60kg running at 5m/s? 60 kg x 5 m/s = 300 kg m/s
2. What is the mass of a car with momentum 10 000kgm/s, travelling at 10m/s? 10000/10 = 1000 kg
3. How fast is a rabbit of mass 0.5kg hopping if she has a momentum of 2kgm/s? 2/0.5 = 4 m/s
4. How much is the change in momentum of a 100g snooker ball before (0m/s) and after (1.5m/s) being
hit by the cue? (1.5 x 0.1) – (1.5 x 0) = 0.15 kg m/s

The total momentum before an interaction is equal to the total momentum afterwards, provided no
external forces act.

The Principle of Conservation of Momentum (p29)

At GCSE there are two types of interaction we need to consider:

E
1. Collisions - where two objects come together C
2. Explosions - where two stationary objects move apart

C C
E E

Task: Use the letters E and C to label the

E
diagrams as explosions or collisions
Questions on conservation of momentum
1. a) State the magnitude of the total momentum of a cannon and cannon ball just before firing Zero
b) What is the total momentum after firing? Zero
c) Will the cannon or cannon ball have the greatest velocity after firing? Cannon ball
Use conservation of momentum to explain your answer The ball has less mass and since each must
have the same momentum, the bass must have a bigger velocity than the cannon which has a
bigger mass
2. Explain the motion and direction of motion of a boat when a boy jumps from it. Use the idea of
conservation of momentum in your answer.
As the man steps off the boat, he pushes on it. Since he moves forward, and since momentum
must be conserved, both the man and the boat’s velocity will be opposite and inversely
proportional to their mass
3. Two ice skaters push each other away after being stationary on ice. Explain why they move apart
with different velocities.
Since they each have a different mass, in order for momentum to be conserved, they must move
at different velocities
Challenging examination question (p30):

The diagram below shows two balls on the bowling green. Ball A is moving with a velocity of
4 m/s, and is about to collide with ball B which is stationary. Both balls have a mass of
1.5 kg.

After the collision both balls move to the right but the velocity of A is now 1 m/s.

(a) (i) Calculate the momentum of ball A just before the collision.

4 x 1.5 = 6 kg m/s

(1)

(ii) What is the total momentum of balls A and B after the collision?

6 kg m/s

(1)

(iii) Calculate the momentum of ball A just after the collision.

1 x 1.5 = 1.5 kg m/s

(1)

(iv) Calculate the momentum of ball B just after the collision.

6 – 1.5 = 4.5 kg m/s

(1)

(v) Calculate the velocity of ball B just after the collision.

4.5/1.5 = 3 m/s

(1)
(b) Calculate the loss of kinetic energy in the collision.
Before: 0.5 x 1.5 x 16 = 12 J
After = (0.5 x 1.5 x 1) + (0.5 x 1.5 x 9) = 7.5 J
Difference = 12 – 7.5 = 4.5 J

(3)
 Conservation of momentum calculations (physics only) p31
Draw simple diagrams to aid your calculations. A truck of mass 2kg travels at 8m/s towards a stationary
truck of mass 6kg. After colliding, the trucks link and move off together. What is their common velocity
after the collision?
Before: 2 x 8 = 16 kg m/s
After = 16/(2+6) = 2 m/s

1) In a sea battle, a cannonball of mass 30kg was fired at 200m/s from a cannon of mass 3000kg. What
was the recoil velocity of the cannon?
30 x 200 = 600 kg m/s

600/3000 = 0.2 m/s

2) A car A, of mass 2000kg, travelling at 10m/s, has a head-on collision with a car B, of mass 500kg. If
both cars stop dead on colliding, what was the velocity of B?
2000 x 10 = 20000 kg m/s
20000/500 = 40 m/s

3) A man wearing a bullet-proof vest stands still on roller skates. The total mass is 80kg. A bullet of
mass 20g is fired at 400m/s. It is stopped by the vest and falls to the ground. What is the velocity of
the man? How does this compare with what you see in TV films?
0.02 x 400 = 8 kg m/s
8/80 = 0.1 m/s. Generally when people are shot in movies, they fly backwards