FORCES

Forces are an external cause that makes a body move, stop, and
increase its velocity and other. There are various types of forces in
physics and they are generally classified into two categories that
are, Contact Force and Non Contact Force .
In general, we define a push and pull as a force, and force is
required for the proper working of the cosmos. There is a force
between the fundamental particles and also between the galaxies.
All these types of forces are caused by various reasons and in this
article, we will learn about the types of forces, examples, and
others. Before starting with the types of force we must first learn
What is force. We have to study types of forces in class 8.
Table of Content
 What is Force?
 Types of Forces
 Contact Force
 Non-Contact force
 Examples on Force Formula

What is Force?
A push or pull is defined as a force. Force always acts between
two bodies that interact with each other. It is a vector quantity and
has both magnitude and direction. The magnitude of the force tells
us the strength of the force and the direction of the force tells us in
which direction the force is applied.
Various types of forces are calculated using various formulas and
the main formula used to calculate the force acting on the body of
mass ‘m kg’ and accelerating at ‘a m/s 2‘ is,
F = ma
Unit of Measurement of Force
The SI unit of measurement of force is Newton (N). Unit of force in
MKS system is kgm/s2. Other unit for measuring force is Dyne.
Different Types of Forces
There are various types of forces that we deal around us. But all
those forces can be easily categorized into two types based on
the contact between the object and the surface, that are,
 Contact Force
 Non-Contact Force
Now let’s learn about them in detail.
Contact force

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Contact force is the force acting between two surfaces in contact
and is further categorized into various types that are,
 Muscular Force
 Frictional Force
 Normal Force
 Applied Force
 Tension Force
 Spring Force
 Air Resistance Force, etc.
Non-Contact Force
The force that act between two bodies that are not in contact with
each other is called the Non-Contact Force. Non-Contact Force is
further classified into various categories that are,
 Electrostatic force
 Gravitational force
 Magnetic force
 Nuclear Force, etc.

Contact Force
A contact force is any force that requires a contact to occur or in
simple words, we can say that it arises during the motion of one
object over the surface of another. Contact forces are generated
only when in contact and are responsible for the most visible
actions between macroscopic collections of matter. Pushing a car
up an inclined surface or kicking a football across a room or in a
playground or pushing any block from one place to another place
or shifting large blocks from one place to another are some
everyday examples where contact forces are at work.
The various types of contact force are shown in the image added
below,

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Frictional Force
Friction is a force between two surfaces that are sliding, rolling or
dragging across each other. For example, If we try to push an
object like book along the floor, friction makes this difficult.
Frictional force or opposing force always works in the direction
opposite to the direction in which the object is moving, or trying to
move. Friction always slows the speed of a moving object down.
The amount of frictional force exerted depends on the materials of
which the two surfaces are made up of. As we increase the extent
of roughness in the surface, more friction is produced. Friction
also produces heat.
Example of Frictional Force
Various example of frictional force are,
 Frictional force is a useful force because it prevents our shoes
from slipping on the floor when we walk and stops car tyres
from skidding on the road.
 When you walk, friction is caused between the thread of shoes
and the surface of the ground. This friction acts to grip the
ground and prevent sliding on the road.
 Players use spikes in their shoes to enhance the friction
between the ground and the shoes so that they don’t slip.
 Players use gloves during batting to increase the friction and
decrease the chances of slipping the bat from their hand.
Friction Force Formula
The force of friction is calculated by using the following formula

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F = μN
where,
 F is Force of Friction
 μ is the Coefficient of Friction
 N is the Normal Reaction Force

Muscular Force
Our muscles exert a force on the other body when we try to lift it,
bend it or in any way try to disturb its state of rest. This force
exerted is called Muscular force. Many activities like lifting an
object, walking on the ground, running, bending, boxing requires
muscular force.
Example of Muscular Force
Various example of muscular force includes,
 Muscular forces can also be required in Strolling, lifting, getting
up from a seat, crossing a leg.
 In a game of tug of war, the team which pulls the rope with a
greater force wins as the rope goes in the direction of greater
force.
 Whenever we are to lift a book or any object we need to apply
a force that is greater than the reaction force exerted by the
object.
A man pushing a block with muscular force is shown in the image
added below,

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Normal Force
The reaction force applied by any object that balances the
gravitational force of the Earth is called the Normal force. This
force is called the normal force as it is always applied to the
normal of the surface. Suppose we observe a bag lying on a
thetable then the gravitational force acts on the bag in the
downward direction this force is balance by an equal and opposite
force called the Normal force that acts normal to the surface of the
bag.

Applied Force

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The force applied to a person or an object that changes the
speed, shape, and direction of the object is called the applied
force. This force is the force of push or pull that is applied to an
object.
Tension Force
The force experienced in the string of a stretched string is the
example of the Tension force. Suppose a mountanier climbs a
mountain using a rope then his/her weight is balance by the
tension force in the string.
Spring Force
The force of compressed or stretched string is called the spring
force. When we stretch or compress a string its stores some
energy and this energy is responsible for the spring force.
Air Resisting Force
The force experience by any object moving in the air is called the
air resistance force. This is a type of Frictional force, suppose we
drive our bike on a windy day against the wind then the wind apply
a resisting force on our bike called the air resisting force.

Non-Contact force
A non-contact force is a force that acts on an object without
coming physically in contact with it. Gravity is the most familiar
non-contact force, which confers weight. In contrast, a contact
force is a force applied to a body by another body that is in contact
with it or in other words, Forces that arise without the contact of 2
or more objects involved. The types of non-contact forces are:
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 Gravitational Force
 Magnetic Force
 Electrostatic Force
 Nuclear Force
Gravitational Force
Gravity, also called gravitation, in mechanics, the universal force
of attraction acting between all matters. All bodies have a weight
on Earth, or downward force of gravity, proportional to their
masses. Gravity is measured by the acceleration that it gives to
freely falling objects. In other words, Gravitational force is a force
exerted by the earth on all objects on it. Gravitational Force
surrounds us everywhere we are. It is present when we are sitting,
playing, walking, throwing, and everywhere. Not only Earth but
any other massive celestial body exerts a gravitational pull. It can
be greater or equal to or lesser than Earth’s gravitational force,
but it is present to some extent. Since the bodies with a greater
mass attract everything towards us hence there is a gravitational
pull on anywhere we are on if it has a mass much greater than our
weight.
Example of Gravitational Force
 When a ball is thrown up, it falls to the ground because of
gravitational force.
 Water always flows downwards because of gravitational force.
 When we throw an apple up it comes down because of
gravitational force.
 Any fruit falls in a downward direction always it is also due to
gravitational force.

Gravitational Force Formula

It is denoted by the equation,
F = G(m1m2)/r2
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where,
 F is Gravitational Force
 G is Universal Gravitational Constant
 m1 and m2 are masses of two Bodies
 r is the distance between Two Masses

Magnetic force
Attraction or repulsion that arises between electrically charged
particles because of their motion is called magnetic force. The
magnetic force is a consequence of electromagnetism, one of the
four fundamental forces of nature, and is caused by the motion of
charges. In simple words, two objects containing charge with the
same direction of motion have a magnetic attraction force
between them. If the two objects have opposite charges then they
repel each other.
Magnetic Force Formula
It is calculated by the given formula,
F = qVB sin θ
where,
 F is the Magnetic Force
 q is the Charge of Moving Particle
 B is Magnetic Field
 θ is angle between Velocity and Magnetic Field Vectors

Electrostatic Force
The force caused due to electric charges in an attractive and
repulsive manner between the particles is called electrostatic
force. The force between stationary charged bodies is
conventionally known as the electrostatic force. It is also referred
to as Columba’s force. In simple words, Electrostatic force is the
force that exists between electrically charged particles or objects
at rest.
Examples of Electrostatic Forces
Various examples of the electrostatic force are,
 When we rub a small paper piece with the oil in our head with
the help of a comb it attracts the paper as shown in the image
added below, this is because of the electrostatic force.

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 Balloons always get attracted towards another balloon when

one of them is rubbed with hair.
 When we iron silk clothes they often cling together after some
time due to electrostatic charges.
 Lightning is also considered an example of electrostatic force.
Electrostatic Force Formula
Electrostatics force is calculated by using the formula,
F = k (q1q2)/r2
where,
 F is the Electrostatic Force of Attraction
 k is Constant of Proportionality
 q1 and q2 are the charges of two Bodies
 d is the distance between the two Bodies

Nuclear Force
The Force experienced inside the nucleus of an atom is called
the nuclear force and this force is only attractive in nature. This
force is responsible for binding the protons and neutrons of
nucleus together. They are one of the strongest force in the
universe.
Weak Forces
Forces that are required for the decay of neutrons are called weak
forces. The neutron in weak force decay into protons and emit a
electron and a antineutrino. The weak force works in even a
smaller distance such as 1/10 th distance of the diameter of
proton.

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