CH-9 FORCE AND LAWS OF MOTIONS

Force
A push or pull on a body is called force.
Characteristics of force:
• Force has both magnitude and direction, making it a vector quantity.
• It is measured in the SI unit of Newton
• It is represented by the symbol F.
Effects of Force:
• It can change the speed of a body.
• It can change the direction of Force and Laws of Motion of a body.
• It can change the shape of a body.
Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
(i) Balanced Forces: If the resultant of applied forces is equal to zero, it is called
balanced forces.
For example: In the tug of war game when the force applied by both teams is
equal in magnitude then the rope does not move in either side. This is due to the
balanced forces in which resultant of applied forces comes out to be zero.

Characteristics:
• Balanced forces do not cause any change of state of an object.
 • Balanced forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
• Balanced forces can change the shape and size of an object. For example:
When we press a balloon from opposite sides, the size and shape of balloon
is changed.
(i) Unbalanced Forces: If the resultant of applied forces are greater than zero, the
forces are called unbalanced forces.
To move an object unbalanced forces are to be applied from the opposite
directions. In case of unbalanced forces acting on a body, it moves a in the
direction of the greater force.
Unbalanced forces can:
• Change the speed and position of an object.
• Change the shape and size of an object.
Some Common Forces
• Muscular Force: The force exerted by the human body muscles is called
muscular force.
• Gravitational Force: The attractional force applied by earth on an object in
downward direction is called gravitational force.
• Frictional Force: The force which opposes the Force and Laws of Motion of
an object while being in contact with the other object, is known as frictional
force.
• Air Resistance: Force which is exerted on the objects while flying in air is
named as air resistance. It acts in a direction opposite to the velocity of the
object.
Newton’s Laws of Force and Laws of Motion:
There are three laws of Force and Laws of Motion those formed by Newton.
They are explained below:
(i) Newton’s First Law of Force and Laws of Motion or Law of Inertia
It states that any object will remain in the state of rest or in uniform Force and
Laws of Motion along a straight line, until it is compelled to change the state by
applying external force.
Inertia: Defintion: Inertia is a property or tendency of every object to resist any
change in its state of rest or of uniform Force and Laws of Motion.
It is measured by mass of an object. The heavier the object, the greater will be its
inertia.
Application of Newton's first law of Force and Laws of Motion:
• When a straight moving bus suddenly stops down, the passengers sitting
inside fall in forward direction. This is because the body of the passenger
initially moving in straight line tends to move the same way even after the
brakes are applied , making the passenger fall in forward direction.
• When we hit a carpet it loses inertia of rest and moves. But the dust in it
retains inertia of rest and is left behind. Thus dust and carpet are
separated.
• When a tree is shaken, it moves to and fro. But fruit remains at rest due to
its inertia of rest. Due to this fruit breaks off the tree.
Momentum: The momentum of a body is defined as the product of its mass and
velocity.
Thus, momentum = mass × velocity
Or, p = m x v
where, p = momentum
m = mass of the body
v = velocity of the body
The Sl unit of momentum is kilograms meters per second (kg.m/s)
Change in momentum: It is defined as the difference between final momentum
and initial momentum. Let u be the initial momentum of a body and v be its final
momentum, then
Change in momentum = mv - mu
Rate of change of momentum: The rate at which the momentum of an object is
changing is known as rate of change of momentum.
Applications of Momentum:
• A small bullet can penetrate into the body of a man and kill him when fired
from a gun because it has a large momentum due to its great velocity.
• A person gets severely injured when hit by a fast moving vehicle which is
due to the momentum of vehicle due to large mass and high velocity.
Try the following questions:
Q1. State and define the SI unit of force.
Q2. When balanced forces act on a stationary body, then the body is deformed
True or False
Q3. Why people sitting in bus fall backward when bus suddenly starts?
Q4. Why leaves fall when we are shacking branch of tree?
Q5. What will be the momentum of a stone having mass of 10 kg when it is
thrown with a velocity of 2 m/s?
 Revision Notes in detail on Force and Laws of Motion
How does an object start moving?
We need to put some effort to make a stationary object move, For Example, a
push, a hit or a pull.

Fig.1- How does an object move

What is a force?
Whenever we push or pull an object a force acts upon them and makes them
move from one place to another. Hence, force can –
• initiate motion in a motionless object
• change (increase or decrease) the velocity of the moving object
• alter the direction of a moving object
• change the shape and size of an object
 Fig.2 - Effects of Force
Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
Balanced Forces –
• When equal amount of forces are applied on an object from different
directions such that they cancel out each other
• They do not change the state of rest or motion of an object
• They may change the shape and size of an object

Fig.3- Balanced Forces

Unbalanced Force –
• When forces applied to an object are of different magnitude(or not in
opposite directions so as to cancel)
• They can alter state of rest or motion of an object
 • They can cause acceleration in an object
• They can change the shape and size of an object

Fig.4 – Unbalanced Forces

What is the force of friction?
It is a force extended when two surfaces are in contact with each other. It always
acts in a direction opposite to the direction of motion of the object.

Fig. 5 – The force of Friction

First Law of Motion
Galileo’s Observation
• He observed the motion of objects on an inclined plane.
• When a marble is rolled down an inclined plane its velocity increases.
Galileo’s Arguments
• When a marble is rolled down from the left – It will go up on the opposite
side up to the same height at which it is dropped down.

• If the inclination of planes is equal – The marble would travel equal

distances while climbing up as travelled while rolling down.

• If we decrease the angle of inclination of the right plane – The marble

would travel further until it reaches its original height.

• If the right side plane is made flat – Marble would travel forever to achieve
the same height.

Galileo's Inference
• We need an unbalanced force to change the motion of the marble but no
force is required when the marble is moving uniformly. In other words,
objects move at a constant speed if no force acts upon them.
Based on Galileo’s ideas Newton presented the three Laws of Motion
First law of motion or The Law of Inertia
Whether an object is moving uniformly on a straight path or is at rest, its state
would not change until and unless an external force is applied on to it.

Hence, we can say that objects oppose a change in their state of motion or rest.
This tendency of objects to remain in the state of rest or to keep moving
uniformly is called Inertia.
Examples of Inertia
• We fall back when a vehicle starts moving in the forward direction because
our body is in the rest state and it opposes the motion of the vehicle.
 • We fall forward when brakes are applied in a car because our body
opposite the change of state of motion to rest

Inertia and Mass

• The inertia of an object is dependent upon its mass.
• Lighter objects have less inertia, that is, they can easily change their state of
rest or motion.
• Heavier objects have large inertia and therefore they show more
resistance.
• Hence ‘Mass’ is called a measure of the inertia of an object.
Consider the image given below; it is easier for a person to push the bucket that is
empty rather than the one that is filled with sand. This is because the mass of an
empty bucket is less than that of the bucket filled with sand.
The Second Law of Motion
• The impact produced by a moving object depends upon its mass and
velocity.
• For Example, a small bullet fired at a high velocity can kill a person.
• Momentum – The product of mass and velocity is called Momentum.
• It is a vector quantity. Its direction is same as that of the object’s velocity.
• Denoted by – p
• SI unit – kg metre per second
• p = mv,
where m is the mass of the object,
v is the velocity of the object
• The momentum of a stationary object –
Let the mass of a stationary object be ‘m’,
Let the velocity of a stationary object be ‘v’,
The stationary object has no velocity, so v = 0,
Therefore, p = m*v = m*0 = 0
So, the momentum of a stationary object is zero.
• We know that the velocity of an object can be changed by applying an
unbalanced force on to it. Similarly, the momentum of an object can
change by applying an unbalanced force.
• According to the second law of motion –
The rate of change of momentum of an object is directly proportional to the
applied unbalanced force on the object in the direction of the force.
For Example –
A cricketer when catches a ball pulls his hands in the backward direction to give
some time to decrease the velocity of the ball. As the acceleration of the ball
decreases the force exerted on catching the moving ball also decreases. If the
cricketer would try to stop a moving ball suddenly he would have to apply larger
force.

Mathematical Formulation of the Second Law of Motion

Based on the definition of the second law of motion, we can infer that -

Therefore, with help of the second law of motion we can evaluate the amount of
force that is being exerted on any object. From the formula stated above, we can
see that the force is directly proportional to acceleration. So the acceleration of
an object can change depending upon the change in force applied.
Force = ma
SI Unit: kg-ms-2 or N (Newton)
The Third Law of Motion
Action and Reaction Forces
Two forces acting from opposite directions are called Action and Reaction Forces.
For Example, a ball when hits the ground (action) bounces back with a certain
force reaction.

Fig. 15 - Action and Reaction Forces

The Third Law of Motion States that –
When an object exerts a force on another object, the second object instantly
exerts a force back onto the first object. These forces are always equal in
magnitude but opposite in direction. These forces act on two different objects
always.
Or in other words, every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
The magnitudes of forces acting upon the objects are same but the acceleration
produced in them may or may not be the same because the objects can differ in
masses.
For Example, when a bullet is fired from a gun, the gun only moves a little
backwards (recoils) while the bullet can travel a large distance. This is because of
the difference in the mass of the bullet and the gun.
Conservation of Momentum
As per the law of conservation of momentum, the sum of momenta of two
objects before the collision and after collision remains the same given that no
external unbalanced force acts upon them. In another way, collision conserves
the total momentum of two objects.

Consider the figure given above. Two balls A and B having a certain initial
velocities collide with each other. Conditions before the collision-
• There is no unbalanced force acting upon them
• The initial velocity of A is greater than initial velocity of B
The figure below explains how the momentum of the balls is conserved after the
collision.

Fig.18 – Conservation of Momentum

Facts about Conservation Laws
• They are considered as the fundamental laws in physics.
• They are based on observations and experiments.
• They cannot be proved but can be verified or disproved with the help of
experiments.
• A single experiment is enough to disprove a law, while a single experiment
is not enough to prove the same.
• It requires a large number of experiments to prove the law.
• The law of conservation of momentum was formulated 300 years ago.
• There is no single situation present until now that disproves this law.
• Other laws of conservation are – law of conservation of energy, the law of
conservation of angular momentum, the law of conservation of charge.