Physics 1A

Lecture 4C

"I believe there are 15,747,724,136,275,002,577,605,653,961,181,555,468,044,717,9 14,527,116,709,366,231,425,076,185,631,031,296 protons in the universe and the same number of electrons. --Sir Arthur Eddington

Frictional Force
The static force will be in the direction opposite the applied force that is attempting the motion. Before you can get an object to move you must overcome the maximum static friction. Once you have an object moving over a surface, the friction will become kinetic friction, fk. Kinetic friction is less than the maximum static friction for a given surface.

To calculate kinetic friction use:

Frictional Force

where k is the coefcient of kinetic friction and FN is the normal force. For static friction, we only calculate the maximum possible static friction via. We express this situation as:

Newtons laws
1st: An object continues in its state of motion at a constant speed along a straight line, unless compelled to change that state by a net force. 2nd:

3rd: Whenever one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body exerts an oppositely directed force of equal magnitude on the rst body.

Newtons Third Law Whenever one body exerts a force on a second body, the second body exerts an oppositely directed force of equal magnitude on the rst body. This law is sometimes shortened to: For every action, there is an equal, but opposite reaction. The third law is the one that is most often misconstrued. Lets look at a game of Tug-Of-War.

Newtons 3rd Law

Who wins a game of Tug-Of-War between a 80kg person and a 60kg person? A) A tie, Newtons Third Law tells that neither can win, because the force between them is equal and opposite. B) The 80kg person, because the 80kg person will always exert a greater force than the 60kg person. C) The 60kg person, because the force exerted by this much mass is greater than the 80kg person. D) You cant tell until you draw your force diagram for this situation, and know more about the coefcients of friction for both people and the surface they stand on.

In Class Question

Draw a force diagram for each person separately.

Newtons 3rd Law

Fnormal, ground on 80kg

Ffriction, ground on 80kg Fgravity, Earth on 80kg

80kg Ftension, 60kg on 80kg

Fnormal, ground on 60kg Ftension, 80kg on 60kg 60kg Fgravity, Earth on 60kg Ffriction, ground on 60kg
The winner of the tug-of-war contest is not who is the strongest (FA on B = FB on A), but whoever had the most friction with the ground.

Example A box lies on an inclined plane at an angle of 30.0o to the horizontal plane. The mass of the box is 5.00kg. What is value of the coefcient of static friction if it is noted that the static friction is at a maximum?

Example

Answer Go through the guidelines. First, you must dene a coordinate system.

Answer We will make a clever choice of coordinate systems: The angled coordinate system will allow us to only break one force into components.

Example

Next we should draw a force diagram for the box:

Ffriction, ground on box Fgravity, Earth on box

Fnormal, plane on box box

Answer The normal force only points in the y-direction and the friction force only points in the x-direction. We do not need to break them into components. But we do need to break the gravitational force into x and y components. We get: Fgx = mg sin Fgy = mg cos

Example

Answer Next we should apply the appropriate Newtons Laws. Since the box is at rest we shall apply Newtons First Law in both independent directions (x and y). Fx = 0 and Fy = 0

Example

Now we can perform the math, lets start with the xdirection:

Answer Next we can turn our attention to the y-direction:

Example

Turning to the equation for maximum static friction:

<- unitless

A word of Caution !!
The action force and the associated reaction force is usually called a Third Law Pair. FA on B and FB on A are called Third Law Pairs. But normal force and gravitational force on a chair are not each others Third Law Pairs (Fground on chair and FEarthonchair), because these are two forces that act on the same body. The two forces are only equal because the body is in equilibrium.

Equilibrium
An object either at rest or moving with a constant velocity is said to be in equilibrium. The net force acting on the object is zero (since the acceleration is zero):

Though we usually work with components when dealing with equilibrium. Fx = 0 and Fy = 0

Example Find the tension in the two wires that support the 100N light xture in the following diagram.

Equilibrium

Answer First, you must dene a coordinate system. Lets choose up as positive y and to the right as positive x.

Answer Next we should draw a force diagram:

Equilibrium

Ftension, left wire on light Fgravity, Earth on light

Ftension, right wire on light light

Now we need to break the forces into components:

Tleft,y Tleft,x

Tleft 40o

Tleft,x = Tleft cos40o Tleft,y = Tleft sin40o

Answer Similarly we can break the right wire into:

Equilibrium
Tright,y

Tright 40o Tright,x

Tright,x = Tright cos40o Tright,y = Tright sin40o

Since this light is in equilibrium, we can apply Newtons 1st Law to this situation: Fx = 0 and Fy = 0

Lets look at the x-direction and sum the forces:

Answer ax = 0 Fx = 0

Equilibrium
Fx = Tright,x - Tleft,x = 0

Tright,x = Tleft,x Tright cos40o = Tleft cos40o Tright = Tleft

Now, lets look at the y-direction and sum the forces: Fy = Tright,y + Tleft,y - Fgravity = 0 ay = 0 Tright,y + Tleft,y = Fgravity Fy = 0

Tright sin40o + Tleft sin40o = Fgravity 2Tright sin40o = 100N Tright = (100N)/2sin40o = 78N

For Next Time (FNT)

Start Chapter 4 HW.

Finish Reading Chapter 4.