P8.

1 - Vectors and Scalars

● Distance without change of direc on is displacement.

Vectors and Scalars

● Vector quan es have a magnitude (size) and direc on.
● Examples of vector quan es are:
○ Force
○ Velocity
○ Accelera on
○ Displacement
○ Momentum
● Scalar quan es have magnitude but no direc on.
● Examples of scalar quan es are:
○ Speed
○ Distance
○ Mass
○ Temperature
○ me

Contact and Non-Contact Forces

● A force is a push or a pull on an object that is caused by it interac ng with something. All forces are
either contact or non-contact forces.
● When two objects have to touch for a force to act, that force is called a contact force.
○ For example, fric on, air resistance, tension in ropes and the normal contact force are all
contact forces.
● If the objects don’t need to be touching for the force to act, the force is a non-contact force.
○ Magne c forces, gravita onal forces and electrosta c forces are all non-contact forces.
● When two objects interact, there is a force produced on both sides.
● An interac on pair is a pair of forces that are equal and opposite and act on two interac ng objects,

P8.2 - Forces between objects

Equal and Opposite Forces
● Newton’s third law of mo on states that when two objects interact with each other, they exert equal
and opposite forces on each other.

Fric on in ac on
● The driving force on a car is the force that makes it move. This is some mes called the engine force or
the mo ve force.
● This force pushes the car forward because there is fric on between the ground and the tyre of each
drive wheel. Fric ons act where the tyre is in contact with the ground.
● When the car moves forward:
○ The force of the fric on of the road on the tyre is in the forward direc on.
○ The force of the fric on of the tyre on the road is in the reverse direc on.
○ These two forces are equal and opposite to each other.
 P8.3 - Resultant Forces
● You can work out the effect of the forces of an object by replacing them with a single force, resultant
force. This is a single force that has the same effect as all the forces ac ng on the object.
● If the resultant force is zero, the forces ac ng on the object are balanced.

Balanced Forces
● Newton’s first law of mo on states that of the forces ac ng on an object are balanced, the resultant
force on the object is zero, and:
○ If the object is at rest, it stays sta onary
○ If the object is moving, it keeps moving with the same speed and in the same direc on.
● If the only two forces act on an object with zero resultant force, the forces must be equal to each other
and act in opposite direc ons.
● For example:
○ A glider on a linear air track floats on a cushion of air. As long as the track stays level, the glider
moves at the same speed and direc on along the track. This is because fric on is absent.
Newton's First law tells you that the glider will con nue moving with the same speed in the
same direc on.
○ When a heavy crate is pushed across a rough floor at a constant speed without changing its
direc on, the push force on it is equal in size, and ac ng in the opposite direc on, to the
fric on of the floor on the crate. Newton's first law states that the crate will con nue moving
with the same speed, and in the same direc on.

Unbalanced Forces
● When the resultant force on an object is not zero, the forces ac ng on the object are not balanced. The
movement of the object depends on the size and direc on of the resultant force.
● For example:
○ When a jet plane is taking off, the thrust force of its engines is greater than the force of air
resistance (or drag) on it. The resultant force on the plane is the difference between the thrust
force and the force of air resistance ac ng on it.
○ When a car driver applies the brakes, the braking force is greater than the force from the
engine. The resultant force is the difference between the braking force and the engine force. It
acts in the opposite direc on to the car's direc on, so it slows the car down.
● The examples show that if an object is acted on by two unequal forces ac ng in opposite direc ons,
the resultant force is:
○ Equal to the difference between the two forces
○ In the direc on of the larger force
Force Diagrams
● When an object is acted on by more than one force, you can draw a free-body diagram to work out the
resultant force on the object.
● A free-body diagram shows the forces ac ng on an object without any other objects or other forces
shown. Each force is shown on the diagram by a vector, which is an arrow poin ng in the direc on of
the force.

P8.4 - Moments at Work

● A moment is the turning effect of a force.
● The moment of the force, can be increased by:
○ Increasing the size of the force
○ Using a spanner with a long handle

● Moments act about a point in a clockwise or an clockwise direc on. The point chosen could be any
point on the object, but the pivot (a point at which something can rotate or turn) - also known as the
fulcrum – is usually chosen.
Levers
● A crowbar is a lever that can be used to raise one edge of a heavy object.
● The weight of the object is called the load, and the force the person applies to the crowbar is called the
effort.
● The point at which the crowbar turns is called the pivot.
● Using the crowbar, the effort needed to li the object is only a small frac on of its weight. The lever
used in this way is an example of a force mul plier because the effort moves a much bigger load.
● The line that a force acts along is called its line of ac on.

P8.5 - More about levers and gears

More about force mul pliers
● You can use levers to increase the size of a force ac ng on an object or to make the object turn more
easily.
● When a lever is used to increase or mul ply a force, the force applied to the lever must act further
from the pivot than the force it has to overcome.
● For example:
○ A bo le opener is a simple device you can use to force the cap off a bo le. The force on the cap
is much bigger than the force you apply to the bo le opener. This is because the line of ac on
of the force you apply is further from the pivot than the edge of the cap. So the bo le opener
acts as a force mul plier and exerts a larger force on the cap.
○ A pair of scissors with sharp edges cuts strings easily. This is because the force of the scissors in
the string is much bigger than the force you can apply to the scissors. This is because the line of
ac on of the force you apply is much further from the pivot than the point where the scissors
cut the string. So the scissors act as a force mul plier.
Gears
● Gears are wheels with toothed edges that rotate on an axle or sha . The teeth of one gear fit into the
teeth of another gear. This lets one gear turn the other, meaning one axle or sha can be used to turn
another sha .
 ● As one gear turns, the other gear must also turn. Where the gears meet, the teeth must both move in
the same direc on. In the diagram, the teeth of both gears move upwards. This means that the gears
rotate in opposite direc ons.
● The forces ac ng on the teeth are iden cal for both gears, but their moments are different:
○ If the driven gear is made larger it will rotate more slowly but with a greater moment. For
example, a low gear ra o on a bike or car.
○ If the driven gear is made smaller it will rotate more quickly but with a smaller moment. For
example, a high gear ra o on a bike or a car.
Changing Gear
● When a low gear is chosen:
○ A small gear wheel driven by the engine sha is used to turn a large gear wheel on the output
sha . so the output sha turns slower than the engine sha .
○ The turning effect of the output sha is greater than the turning effect of the engine sha .
Low gear gives low speed and a high turning effect.
● When a high gear is chosen:
○ A large gear wheel driven by the engine sha I used to turn a small gear wheel on the output
sha . So the output sha turns faster than the engine sha , so the car can move at a higher
speed.
○ But the force of the smaller gear wheel acts nearer to its sha than the force of the larger gear
wheel ac ng on its sha . So the turning effect of the output sha is less than the turning effect
for the engine sha .
High gear give high speed and a low turning effect

P8.6 - Centre of Mass

● The centre of mass of an object is the point at which its mass can be thought of as being concentrated.

Suspended Equilibrium
● If you suspend an object and then release it, it will sooner or later come to rest with its centre of mass
directly below the point of suspension. The object is then in equilibrium, which means it is at rest.
● Its weight does not exert a turning effect on the object, because its centre of mass is directly below the
point of suspension.
● If the object is turned from this posi on and then released, it will swing back to its equilibrium
posi on. This is because its weight has a turning effect that returns the object to equilibrium.
● You say that the object is freely suspended if it returns to its equilibrium posi on a er the turning force
is taken away.

Centre of Mass
● For a flat object that is symmetrical, its centre of mass is along the axis of symmetry.
● If the object has more than one line of symmetry, its centre of mass is where the lines of symmetry
meet.
How to find centre of mass of an irregular object
1. Put a hole in one corner of the card and suspend the card from a rod.
2. Use a plumb line to draw a ver cal line on the card from the rod.
3. Repeat the procedure, hanging the card from a different corner.
4. The point at which the two lines meet is the centre of mass.
 P8.7 - Moments and Equilibrium
● A seesaw is an example of which clockwise and an clockwise moments might balance each other out.

● In the diagram, the rule is balanced horizontally by adjus ng the posi on of the two weights. When it
is balanced:
○ The an clockwise moment due to W1 about the pivot = W1D1, and
○ The clockwise moment due to W2 about the pivot = W2D2.
● The an clockwise moment due to W1 = the clockwise moment due to W2 and therefore:
W1D1 = W2D2
● The seesaw is an example of the principle of moments. This states that, for an object that is not
turning:
The sum of all the clockwise moments about any point = the sum of all an clockwise moments about that
point.

● If you have to move a heavy load, think beforehand how to make the job easier.
● If you had a wheelbarrow and trolley being used to move a load. The load is li ed using a much smaller
effort (force). Once the load has been li ed, it can be easily moved by pushing the wheelbarrow or the
trolley forwards.
P8.8 - The Parallelogram of Forces
 P8.9 - Resultant Forces
● The resultant force on an object is the sum of all the forces ac ng on an object. If the forces ac ng on
the object are not all ac ng on the same line, vector diagrams can be used to find the resultant force.

Drawing Resultant Forces