Forces

1. Key words:
 Gravitational force: Pulling force
that bodies exert on each other
over a distance due to their
masses.
 Weight: The gravitational force that
a celestial body such as a moon or
a planet exerts on an object close
to its own surface.
 Mass: A measure of the amount of
matter that a body is made of.

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 Magnetic force: Force that two
magnetic materials exert on each
other over a distance.
 Force of attraction: Pulling force
that two objects exert on each
other.
 Force of repulsion: Pushing forces
that two objects exert on each
other.
 Like poles: Similar magnetic poles,
that is, north and north or south
and south.
 Unlike poles: Different magnetic
poles, that is, north and south.
 Electrostatic force: Force that two
electrically charges objects exert on
each other over a distance.

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  Like charge: Similar electric
charges, that is, positive and
positive or negative and negative.
 Unlike charges: Different charges,
that is, positive and negative.

2.

Effects of forces:
 Force is described as a push or pull.
 A force is needed to let movement
take place.

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 When we combine pushing and
pulling forces, we sometimes get a
twist.
 We exert a force when we use a
push, a pull, or a twist to change the
shape, direction, or speed of an
object.
 A force is measured in newton (N).
 It is named after Sir Isaac Newton, a
scientist, who lived about 400 years
ago.

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 How do we describe forces?
Because a force is always applied in
a certain direction, when we
describe a force, we give its size
and the direction in which it is
acting.

3. Effects of forces:
 An object to start moving. The
pushing force that makes thing
move.

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  A moving object to speed up, slow
down or stop.

 A moving object to change direction.

 An object to change its shape.

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 An object to rotate.

4. Force pairs:
 Forces that two objects exert on
each other always act in pairs.
 Newton called the one force
the action, and the other force
the reaction.
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 When you pushed against the wall,

the wall pushed back.

 The force the wall exerted on you

will be the same = the force you
exerted on the wall, but it will be in
an opposite direction.

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5. Forces in balance:
 Net force: One force is greater than
another force.
 Balanced forces: When the forces
which are acting on the object are
equal in size and opposite in
direction, there is no visible effect of
these forces on the object.
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 When two forces are not the same
size, they are not balanced.
 Unbalanced forces: When 2 forces
have a visible effect because they
are not exactly opposite and equal.
 When forces are not balanced then
it means one force is greater than
the other and there is a net force.

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6. Contact forces:
 There are 2 main types of forces:
contact forces and non-contact
(also called field forces).
 Forces in which objects touch each
other.
 Different types of contact forces:
friction; tension and compression.

a) Friction:

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oA contact force that acts against
objects sliding past each other.
oThe force of friction depends on
the type of surface on which an
object is moving and the normal
force.
oTo get an object to move, a force
greater than the frictional force
needs to be applied to overcome
the friction between the object
and the surface.
oFriction forces always act in the
opposite direction to the motion of
the object.

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oFriction between two surfaces also
causes the objects to heat up.

b) Tension:
oA pulling force.
oTension is a contact force in a
rope or cable when it is used to
move or suspend a load.
oIf the object is too heavy, the
tension in the rope will be too
much and the rope will break.
oSome materials stretch if the
tension in them increases.

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c) Compression:
oA pushing force which acts to
deform an object.
oIt pushes an object into a smaller
space.
oIt can also push something into
another space like when you push
toothpaste out of the tube.

 The difference between Tension

and Compression:

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 Compression forces are two forces
acting on one object in opposite
directions (towards each other) to
compress or deform the object.
 Tension forces are two forces
acting on one object in opposite
directions (away from each other)
to stretch the object.

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7. Field Forces:
 Forces between objects that are not
touching each other.
 Different type of non-contact forces:
gravitational force; magnetic force
and electrostatic force.

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 A field: a region in space where an
object (with certain properties) will
experience a force.
 Forces which act over a distance.

8. Gravitational forces:
 The non-contact force that pulls
objects towards the centre of the
Earth.
 Gravitational forces exist between
any two objects with mass, and they
are forces of attraction.
 Forces of attraction: force that pulls
objects.
 Forces of attraction: force that pulls
objects.

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 It is measured in Newton.

 The greater the mass of the objects,

the stronger the gravitational force
of attraction between them.
 The closer objects are to each other,
the stronger the gravitational force
between them.

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 Gravitational forces will depend on
the relationship between mass and
weight:
 Mass: The mass of an object is the
amount of matter in the object.
Mass is measured in kilograms (kg)
and is independent of where you
measure it.
Weight: An object's weight can
change as it depends on the mass of
the object and the strength of the
gravitational force acting on it.
Weight is measured in Newtons (N).
The weight of an object will change
when weighed in different places.

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Weight (F) is calculated by
multiplying an object's mass (m) by
the gravitational acceleration (g)
(the answer will be in Newtons:
F= m x g

 Gravitational acceleration (g) = 10

m/s².
 Example:
You have a bag of potatoes with a
mass of 5 kg, what is its weight on
Earth?
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 Mass = 5kg (must always be in kg)
G = 10 m/s².

F= m x g
F = 5 x 10 m/s²
F=50N

9. Magnetic forces:
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 Certain materials have strong
magnetic fields around them=
magnets.
 All magnets have 2 poles: north and
south pole.

 Magnetic Fields: The space where

the magnetic force can be felt is
called magnetic field.
 The lines always have arrows that
point from the north pole to the
south pole.
 The field lines have arrows on
them.
 The field lines are closer together at
the poles.

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 The magnetic field is stronger in the
places where the lines are closer
together.
 Further away from the magnet the
lines get further and further apart,
showing that the field is much
weaker.

 When you bring the north poles

together, there is a “resistance”.
 When the poles are the same, the
magnetic force pushes them apart.
 A north pole and a north pole or a
south pole and a south pole repel
each other.
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 Opposite poles of a magnet attract
each other.

10. Electrostatic forces:

 When two surfaces are rubbed
against each other, there
is friction between them.
 Friction is a resistance against the
movement of an object because of
its contact with another object.
 The friction between two surfaces
can cause electrons to be
transferred from one surface to the
other.

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 All atoms have a nucleus which
contains protons and neutrons.
 The nucleus is held together by a
very strong force, which means
that the protons within a nucleus
can be fixed there.
 The atom also contains electrons.
 Protons = positively charged (+)
 Neutrons = neutral (no charge)
 Electrons = negatively charged (-)

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 The atom is held together by
the electrostatic attraction between
the positively charged nucleus and
the negatively charged electrons.
 Within an atom, the electrons
closest to the nucleus are the most
strongly held.
 Those further away experience a
weaker attraction.
 Atoms are
normally neutral because they have
the same number of positive
charges (protons) as negative

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 charges (electrons), so the charges
balance each other out.
 When we rub two surfaces together
(e.g., combing your hair), the
friction can cause electrons to be
transferred from one object to
another.

 Remember, the protons are fixed in

place in the nucleus, so they cannot
be transferred between atoms.
 It is only electrons that can be
transferred to another surface.

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 When an object has more electrons
than protons overall, then we say
that the object is negatively
charged.
 When an object has fewer
electrons than protons overall,
then we say that the object
is positively charged.

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Memo:

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