Newton’s Laws

of Motion

PHYSICS

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Newton’s Laws of Motion

Sir Isaac Newton gave the laws of motion regarding the motion of the objects.
There are various activities in our daily life in which we encounter the laws of motion in
various forms.
For this topic, we need to understand both conceptual as well as mathematical/
numerical aspects of the events.
For example: We know that if we kick a football with the help of our foot, it
moves. The movement of the football is due to force. When you kick a wall then instead
of moving, it also apply some opposite force on your foot and you feel bad. We will see
that all these activities are based on the laws of motion.

First law of motion

According to the first law of motion, “an object at rest will remain at rest and the
object moving with uniform velocity will continue the uniform velocity until we
apply some external force.”
For example, a car moving with some velocity will be moving until we apply the brakes
to stop it. A ball kept on the road will remain at rest until we apply some force to move it.

The state of rest or state of uniform motion of any object imply zero acceleration. Thus
according to the first law of motion, when the net external force on a body is zero
then the acceleration of the body will be zero. The acceleration of the body will
be non-zero only when there is some external force on the system.

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Law of inertia
 The law of inertia was given by Galileo from observations of motion of a ball on
an inclined plane.
 “If the net external force on a body is zero then the body at rest continues to remain
at rest and a body in motion continues to moving with uniform velocity. This
property of the body is called inertia.”
 The meaning of inertia is-resistance to change. It means that a body does not
change its state of rest or uniform motion until we apply some external force to
change this state.

Definition
Velocity: The rate of change of displacement of a body is called velocity. It is
denoted by V. The SI unit of velocity is m/s.

Uniform velocity: The velocity of a body which does not changes with time is
called uniform velocity.

Acceleration: The rate of change of velocity of the body is called acceleration.

It is denoted by a. The SI unit of acceleration is m/s2.

Force: The interaction which after applying on a body changes or tries to

change the state of rest or a state of uniform motion of the body is called force. It is
generally denoted by F.

Points to Remember
The Newton’s first law of motion gives the definition of force. It also gives the definition
of inertia of a body.

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Second law of motion

Definition
Momentum: The product of mass and velocity is called momentum. It is denoted
by P.
Momentum (P) = Mass (m) × velocity (V)

According to Newton’s second law of motion, “the rate of change of momentum of

any object is directly proportional to the force applied on the object in the
direction of force.”

Since,

Force (F) = K.m.a

Where K is a constant, m is mass of the object, V is velocity, t is time and a is

acceleration
If m=1, a=1 and F =1 then k =1 for unit measures
Thus force (F) = m a

Unit of force: kg.m/s 2 or Newton (N)

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Definition
1 Newton: The force required to create the acceleration of 1 m/s 2 for a 1 kg mass
is called 1 Newton force in the direction of force.
Mass (m) = 1 kg, acceleration (a) = 1 m/s2
Force (F) = m a = 1 × 1 = 1 kg. m/s2 = 1 Newton (N)

Impulse
The change in momentum of an object is called impulse. It is denoted by J.

Impulse (J) = Change in momentum (ΔP)

Δ P = F. Δ t

Thus Impulse (J) = Δ P = F.Δ t

Q. A ball of mass 3 kg is moving with an acceleration of 2 m/s2. Find the force on

the ball.
A. Given that:
Mass (m) = 3 kg
Acceleration (a) = 2 m/s2
According to Newton’s second law:
Force (F) = m a = 3 × 2 = 6 N

Q. A bullet of mass 0.5 kg is moving with a velocity of 40 m/s enters a wooden

block and comes to rest after 10 sec. find the average force applied by the
wooden block on the bullet.

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A. Given that:
Initial velocity (u) = 40 m/s
Final velocity in rest position (V) = 0
Mass (m) = 0.5 kg
Time take (Δ t) = 10 sec
Initial momentum (P1) = m u = 0.5 × 40 = 20 kg m/s
Final momentum (P2) = m V = 0.5 × 0 = 0
Change in momentum (Δ P) = Impulse (J) = (P1 – P2) = 20 – 0 = 20 kg m/s
Since impulse (J) = Force (F) × time (Δ t) = 20
F × 10 = 20
Force (F) = 20/10 = 2 N

Q. The velocity of a particle varies as V = 2 t2. Find the force on the particle at
time (t) = 5 second. The mass of the particle is 2 kg.

A. Given that:
Mass (m) = 2 kg
Velocity (V) = 2 t2
Time (t) = 5 sec
Since
Force (F) = m a = 2 × 4 t = 8 t
At time (t) = 5 sec
Force (F) = 8 t = 8 × 5 = 40 N

Definition
Average force: The net force applied on a body over a time interval is called
average force. The average force is a force acting on a body for a period of time.

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The Newton’s first law of motion gives the definition of force

It also gives the definition of inertia of a body.
Points to Remember
The Newton’s second law of motion gives the formula of the force. It also gives the
formula of impulse of a body.

Third law of motion

Newton’s third law of motion states that: “To every action, there is always an equal
and opposite reaction “

Important points –
 Forces always occurs in pairs force on a body A by B is equal and opposite to force
on the body B by A
Fab = -Fba
 The force on A by B and the force on B by A act at the same time instant, so there
is no cause effect relation
 Action and reaction forces act on different bodies not on same body
Fab = -Fba
Force on A by B = - Force on B by A

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Q. A man apply a 40 N of force on a wall. Find the force applied by wall on the
man.
A. Given that:
Force by man on wall (F) = 40 N
According to the Newton’s third law:
Action force = Force by man on wall (F) = 40 N
Force applied by wall on the man = reaction force = action force = 40 N

Newton’s second law is the real law

Both first and third law can be proved by second law of motion.

Proof of first law by second law:

As we know by second law,
If there is no external force applied then F=0 so
Δ p = 0 So, Δ V = 0
No change in velocity if there is no net external force is applied. Hence first law proved.

Proof of third law by second law:

If there is no external force then

Fnet=0

FAB + FBA =0
FAB = - FBA

Hence third law also stands proved.

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Conservation of
Momentum
The product of mass and velocity is called momentum. It is denoted by P.
Momentum (P) = mass (m) × Velocity (V)
Law of conservation of momentum can be stated as— “If there is no net external
force on the system then the total momentum of the system of interacting
particles is conserved”
Initial momentum of the system = Final momentum of the system
When two particles collide with each other then there is no external force on the two
particle system. So momentum of the system of two particles before and after the
collision will remain same.

m1u1 + m2u2 = m1v1 + m2v2

p1 +p2 = p1’+ p2’
The total momentum before collision = total momentum after collision

Q. A body of mass 0.25 kg is projected with muzzle velocity 100m/s from a tank of
mass 100 kg what is the recoil velocity of the tank?
A. Given that: Mass of tank (m t) =100kg and mass of object (mo) =0.25kg
Vo = 100 m/s, then Vt =?
As we know that initially both are at rest so u0 = 0 and ut =0
So total momentum before collision = mt u0+ mo ut =0
Total momentum after collision should also be equal to zero, so mt Vt + mo Vo = 0,
100 x Vt + 0.25 x100 = 0 Hence Vt = - 0.25 m/s

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Equilibrium of a Particle

Points to Remember
Equilibrium of a particle is the situation when the net external force on the particle is
zero.

For Two Forces

If two forces F1 and F2, act on a particle, equilibrium requires F1 = − F2 or F1 + F2=0

i.e. the two forces on the particle must be equal and opposite.

For Three Forces

Equilibrium under three concurrent forces F1, F2 and F3 requires that the vector sum of
the three forces is zero.
F1 + F 2 + F3 = 0

The resultant of any two forces say F1

and F2, obtained by the parallelogram
law of forces must be equal and
opposite of the third force, F3

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Q. A mass of 6 kg is suspended by a rope of length 2 m from the ceiling. A force

of 50 N in the horizontal direction is applied at the midpoint P of the rope, as
shown. What is the angle the rope makes with the vertical in equilibrium?
(Take g = 10 m/s2). Neglect the mass of the rope.

A. T2 = 6 × 10 = 60 N,
T1 cos θ = T2 = 60 N

T1 sin θ = 50 N

So,

tanθ = 5/6

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