navigate stacks (sections)
within a section
navigate slides
External forces have the potential to change the state of motion of the system.
Forces :
Representing
interactions
between
systems
A Force is a vector quantity; whose magnitude represents the strength of the interaction.
The SI unit for Force is the Newton [N]
The implication is that there are boundaries that can be placed between systems, and the interaction can be summarized in terms of external forces between the systems.
Remember that "Force" is a concept -- it is one idea that humans use to describe interactions between entities. When we speak of forces, we speak of fictions of our imagination, which we can then use to analyze the situation and predict the outcome.
The mass of a system
can be defined as a measure of
the system's tendency to resist
any change in its state of motion.
velocity
acceleration
inertia
Mass
is a measure of inertia
Forces have the potential to cause acceleration
Mass resists acceleration
where g is the acceleration due to gravity of the planet.
The Normal Force
When the object of interest is in surface contact with other objects, then the contact force has two components:
The Friction Force
ground on ladder
wall
on ladder
ladder
on wall
ladder on ground
The Tension Force
The Spring Force
Applied Forces
A free-body diagram (FBD) is a schematic that indicates all the external forces acting on an object.
In the previous definition, the word "on" is critical -- the forces that are exerted by the object of interest are not included; only the forces that are exerted on the object of interest are included in a FBD of that object.
The Net Force is defined as the vector sum of all the external forces acting on an object.
Since Forces are vectors, their sum follows the rules for adding vectors (by components.)
Where I grew up there was a long road that had the perfect slope and road conditions, such that if I went down with my bicycle at a certain velocity and avoided all bumps, then I was able to coast down the road without slowing down or speeding up.
It was such a fun feeling being in such perfect equilibrium....
Later in life, I was fortunate enough to be able to understand on an analytical level the intricate balance of the forces acting on the bike and me to keep us in the same state of motion... each force having the potential to change the state of motion, but somehow the combination of forces balancing out to have no net effect -- as if no forces acted in the first place...
And being able to think this way, and
to see the possibilities of that way of thinking,
was also a fun feeling in a different way...
An object tends to maintain its state of motion, unless acted upon by a net external force.
A system that is subject to a net external force will accelerate at a rate that is proportional to the external net force and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
Forces come in pairs -- when objects A and B interact, the force of A on B and the force of B on A are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.