Force

1.
Introduction
While studying kinematics, we have already studied about the

position, displacement and acceleration of a moving particle.
Here in this chapter, we would take our understanding one step
further to learn about origins of acceleration or force.
Here we will specifically consider the cause behind the moving
objects i.e. what causes the objects to move.
Thus we will learn the theory of motion based on the ideas of
mass and force and the laws connecting these physical
concepts to the kinematics quantities.
Concept of force is central to all of physics whether it is
classical physics, nuclear physics, quantum physics or any
other form of physics
So what is force? When we push or pull anybody we are said to
exert force on the body
Push or pull applied on a body does not exactly define the force
in general. We can define force as an influence causing a body
at rest or moving with constant velocity to undergo
acceleration
There are many ways in which one body can exert force on
another body. Few examples are given below
(a) Stretched springs exerts force on the bodies attached to its
ends
(b) Compressed air in a container exerts force on the walls of
the container
(c) Force can be used to deform a flexible object
Force of gravitational attraction exerted by earth is a kind of
force that acts on every physical body on the earth and is called
the weight of the body
2. Balanced and Unbalanced forces
There are two types of forces namely balanced forces and

unbalanced forces
(a) Balanced Forces
If the resultant of all forces acting on a body is zero then the

forces are called balanced forces.
To understand this concept consider an object rests on a

surface such as a block on the table as shown below in the
figure 1. Weight of the block is balanced by the reaction force
from the table. The table pushes up against the block.
So the weight of a block lying on a table is balanced by the

reaction force from the table top
If the forces on an object are balanced (or if there are no forces
acting on it) than the object that is not moving stays still and the
object that is moving continues to move at the same speed and
in the same direction.
Although balanced forces cannot produce motion in a
stationary body or stop a moving body but they can however
change the shape of the body.
(b) Unbalanced Forces
If the resultant forces acting on a body is not zero the forces

are called unbalanced forces.
To understand this consider the figure 2 which shows a block
on a horizontal table and two strings X and Y are tied to the two
opposite faces of the block.
Let us now pull the block using this string in two different
directions such that two opposite forces of different
magnitudes acts on the block.
Since two forces acting on the block are of different magnitude
the block would begin to move in the direction of the greater
force.
Thus, the two forces acting on the block are not balanced and
the unbalanced force acts in the direction the block moves.
So unbalanced forces can move a stationary body and they can
stop a moving body.
The size of the overall force acting on an object is called the
resultant force. If the forces are balanced, this is zero. In the
example above, the resultant force is the difference between
the two forces F1 and F2, which is 120 - 60 = 60 N.
If all the forces acting on a body result in an unbalanced force,
then the unbalanced force can accelerate the body. It means
that a net force or resulting force acting on a body can either
change the magnitude of its velocity or change the direction of
its velocity.
The force that opposes the relative motion between the
surfaces of two objects in contact and acts along the surfaces
in contact is called the force of friction or simply friction.
3. Laws of motion
Newton gave three laws of motion that describe the motion of

bodies. These laws are known as Newton's Laws of motion.
They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a

body and its motion due to those forces.
The three laws of motion were first compiled by Sir Isaac
Newton in his work Principia Mathematica, first published in
1687. Newton used these laws to explain and investigate the
motion of many physical objects and systems.
We shall now learn about Newton's First law of motion
4. Newton's First Law of motion
The first law of motion is stated as:

An object remains in a state of rest or of uniform motion in a
straight line unless compelled to change that state by an
applied force.
All objects resist a change in their state of motion. The

tendency of undisturbed objects whether they are at rest or
moving with uniform velocity is called inertia. Hence, the first
law of motion is also known as the law of inertia.
Greater the inertia of the body greater will be the force
required to bring the change in the state of rest or uniform
motion of the body.
Mass is the measure of the inertia of the body so heavier
objects have more inertia then lighter objects. For example a
ball of 2Kg has more inertia then a football and it takes more
effort to kick a 2Kg ball then it takes to kick a foot ball.
Another example is even a small child can push a toy car.
However, An adult also can't push a loaded vehicle forward.
Newton's first law of motion gives us a definition of force. It
says that
Force is something that changes or tends to change the state of
rest or uniform motion of a body
5. Momentum
Before discussing about second law of motion we shall first

learn about momentum of a moving object.
From our daily life experiences like during the game of table
tennis if the ball hits a player it does not hurt him. On the other
hand, when a fast moving cricket ball hits a spectator, it may
hurt him.
This suggests that impact produced by moving objects
depends on both their mass and velocity.
So, there appears to exist some quantity of importance that
combines the object's mass and its velocity called momentum
and was introduced by Newton.
Momentum can be defined as "mass in motion". All objects
have mass; so if an object is moving, then it has momentum - it
has its mass in motion.
The momentum, p of an object is defined as the product of its
mass, $m$ and velocity, $v$. That is, Momentum p=mv
(1)
Momentum has both direction and magnitude so it is a vector
quantity. Its direction is the same as that of velocity, $v$.
The SI unit of momentum is kilogram-meter per second (kg m s1
).
Since the application of an unbalanced force brings a change in
the velocity of the object, it is therefore clear that a force also
produces a change of momentum.
We define the momentum at the start of the time interval is the
initial momentum and at the end of the time interval is the final
momentum.
When the object moves then it gains momentum as the velocity
increases. Hence greater the velocity greater is the
momentum.
6. Second Law of motion
Newton's second law of motion gives the relationship between

the force and acceleration.
The second law of motion states that
the rate of change of momentum of an object is proportional to
the applied unbalanced force in the direction of force
The rate of change of momentum of an object is proportional to

the applied force. So, Newton's second law of motion can be
expressed as
Suppose an object of mass, $m$ is moving along a straight line

with an initial velocity, $u$. It is uniformly accelerated to
velocity, $v$ in time, $t$ by the application of a constant force,
$F$ throughout the time, $t$.
The initial and final momentum of the object will be, p1 = mu and
p2 = mv respectively.
Now change in momentum would be
Now force applied is proportional to rate of change of

momentum. So,
where, a =(v-u)/t is the acceleration which is the rate of change

of velocity. The quantity,k is a constant of proportionality
The unit of force is chosen in such a way that the value of the
constant, k becomes one.
For this, one unit of force is defined as the amount that
produces an acceleration of 1 ms-2 in an object of 1 kg mass.
That is,
1 unit of force = k (1 kg) (1 m s-2). Thus, the value of k
becomes 1.
From Eq. 2
F = ma
(3)
The unit of force is kgms-2 or Newton, which has the symbol N.
The second law of motion gives us a method to measure the

force acting on an object as a product of its mass and
acceleration.
7. Third Law of motion
Newton's third law of motion states that

Whenever a body exerts a force on another body, the second
body exerts an equal and opposite force on the first body
So according to third law of motion to every action there is an

equal and opposite reaction. This tells us that all forces in
nature acts in pairs.
These two forces are always equal in magnitude but opposite in
direction.
These forces act on different objects and never on the same
object.
Few applications of third law of motion are
a. If you throw a heavy ball or block away from your body,
the force exerted will push back on you, possibly pushing
you backward onto the ground.
b. A book lying on a table exerts a force on the table which is
equal to the weight of the book (action force). The table
supports the book, by exerting an equal force on the book
(reaction). As the system is at rest, net force on it is zero.
Therefore, forces of action and reaction must be equal
and opposite.
c. When a gun is fired, the bullet moves forward (action). The
gun recoils backwards (reaction).
8. Law of conservation of momentum
Law of conservation of linear momentum is a extremely

important consequence of Newton's third law of motion in
combination with the second law of motion.
According to law of conservation of momentum
When two or more bodies acts upon each other their total
momentum remains constant provided no external forces are
acting
So, Momentum is never created or destroyed.

When this law is applied for a collision between two bodies, the
total momentum of the colliding bodies before collision is equal
to the total momentum after collision.
We can apply this law for a collision between two vehicles. This
law is applicable for all types of collisions.
Consider two particles say A and B of mass m1 and m2 collide
with each other and forces acting on these particles are only
the ones they exert on each other.
Let u1 and v1 be the initial and final velocities of particle A and
similarly, u2 and v2for particle B. Let the two particles be in
contact for a time t. So, Change in momentum of A=m1 (v1-u1)
Change in momentum of B=m2 (v2-u2 )
During the collision, let A impart an average force equal to FBA

on B and let B exert an average FAB on A. We know that from
third law of motion FBA=-FAB
(4)
Here,
canceling t on both sides and rearranging the equation we get

m1u1+m2u2=m1v1+m2v2
(5)
Now, m1u1+m2u2 represents the total momentum of particles A
and B before collision and m1v1+m2v2 represents the total
momentum of particles after collision. This means that
Total momentum before collision=total momentum after

collision
Equation 5 which m1u1+m2u2=m1v1+m2v2 ,is known as the law
of conservation of momentum.
Thus we conclude that when two particles are subjected only to

their mutual interactions ,the sum of the momentums of the
bodies remains constant in time or we can say the total
momentum of the two particles does not change because of the
any mutual interactions between them.
For any kind of force between two particles then sum of the
momentum ,both before and after the action of force should be
equal i.e total momentum remains constant.
Law of conservation of linear momentum is one of the most
fundamental and important principle of mechanics.
Once again ,the total momentum of two or any number of
particles of interacting particles is constant if they are isolated
from outside influences (or no resultant external forces is
acting on the particles).

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1.

While studying kinematics, we have already studied about the

2. Balanced and Unbalanced forces

There are two types of forces namely balanced forces and

(a) Balanced Forces

If the resultant of all forces acting on a body is zero then the

To understand this concept consider an object rests on a

So the weight of a block lying on a table is balanced by the

(b) Unbalanced Forces

If the resultant forces acting on a body is not zero the forces

opposite faces of the block.

Newton gave three laws of motion that describe the motion of

They describe the relationship between the forces acting on a

4. Newton's First Law of motion

The first law of motion is stated as:

All objects resist a change in their state of motion. The

Before discussing about second law of motion we shall first

6. Second Law of motion

Newton's second law of motion gives the relationship between

The rate of change of momentum of an object is proportional to

Suppose an object of mass, $m$ is moving along a straight line

Now force applied is proportional to rate of change of

where, a =(v-u)/t is the acceleration which is the rate of change

The second law of motion gives us a method to measure the

7. Third Law of motion

Newton's third law of motion states that

So according to third law of motion to every action there is an

8. Law of conservation of momentum

Law of conservation of linear momentum is a extremely

So, Momentum is never created or destroyed.

Change in momentum of B=m2 (v2-u2 )

During the collision, let A impart an average force equal to FBA

canceling t on both sides and rearranging the equation we get

Total momentum before collision=total momentum after

Thus we conclude that when two particles are subjected only to

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