Force

The influence that changes the state of objects

- SI unit Newton
- Vector quantity How?

Effects of a force:
1. Changing the state of rest or uniform velocity of a body:
Newton’s
1st Law
If no external force is acting on at, an object will
- if stationary, remain stationary
- if moving, keep moving at a steady speed in a straight
line

With a resultant force on it, an object will accelerate. Therefore, it’s

velocity will change, and so will its momentum.

The quantity of motion a moving body has.

momentum = mass of body x its velocity
= mv (kg.m/s)

Force = mass x acceleration

v  u mv  mu
F  ma  m  Newton’s 2nd Law
t t
Force = time rate of change of momentum
= change in momentum/ time

momentum
Since F ,
time
force x time = change in momentum
This quantity is called
an impulse The change in the momentum of a body

REMARK:
big change in momentum --> short time = large force applied
Conservation of momentum:
If objects collide (or act on each other), the total momentum before
collision is equal to the total momentum after collision, provided no
external forces act on the system.

IMPORTANT REMARKS
1) As momentum is a vector, direction should be allowed for during calculations.
When solving momentum questions, take one direction to be positive, and the opposite
direction to be negative.
(example for illustration):
The green ball (mass 4 kg) is moving with a speed of 3.0 m/s to the left and the red ball (mass 1
kg) is moving with a speed of 2.0 m/s to the right.

If we count right to be positive (+),

Then left should be negative (-).

So, momentum of green ball = mv  4kg  3m / s  12kg .m / s

momentum of red ball = mv  1kg  2.0m / s  2kg .m / s

2) When an object collides (with a wall) and bounce back, take note of the
change in momentum:

Change in momentum = final momentum - initial momentum

=  mv  ( mv )
=  2mv
 PRACTICE

Exercises:

Answers: 1) 3.3 m/s, 2) 6 kg

( images from mathcentre.co.uk)