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Grade 9 NS Forces 2 Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

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90 views3 pages

Grade 9 NS Forces 2 Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

Uploaded by

moruditshepo13
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
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Grade 9 NS - Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

Force pairs:
Forces always act in pairs - for every force there is an equal and opposite force that acts against it.

If I push on the wall then the wall pushes back on me with an equal and
opposite force. The force of my weight acts upon the surface of the Earth
and the surface of the Earth pushes back on me with an equal and opposite
force. If I stretch an elastic band by pulling on it with my finger. The elastic
band pulls back on my finger with an equal and opposite force. These are all
action reaction force pairs. Action reaction force pairs are always ​balanced​.
They are equal and opposite and there is no resultant force from the pair.

This is the basis of Newton’s 3rd Law of motion.

Activity 1: ​Look at the following action


reaction pairs as examples:

Then look at the pictures below. The


first picture is another example. For
each other picture draw the reaction
arrow and describe the reaction force.
Grade 9 NS - Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

Often there are several different forces acting on an object.


Each of these forces has a reaction force. But when we are looking at the forces acting on one object we
usually don't draw in all the reaction forces. We only draw the forces acting on the object.

In this diagram of a car in motion there are many forces


acting on the car. The driving force or ​thrust​ propels the car
forward. The forces of friction of the road on the tyres and of
the air resistance on the car (​drag​) act in the opposite
direction to thrust. Gravity pulls on the car producing the
force of weight. The road pushes up on the car. This force is
labelled as the reaction force. We also call the force of a
surface pushing upwards on an object the normal force.

We can draw all of these forces as a force diagram or free


body diagram. In a force diagram the object is represented
as a block and in a free body diagram as a dot. Force vectors for the forces acting on the object are shown
as arrows pointing away from the object.

The forces acting on a single object may be balanced or unbalanced.


If the forces balance out then there will be no net force (overall force). When forces are balanced an object
will remain stationary or it will move at a constant velocity (i.e. at a constant speed in a constant direction).
This is the basis of Newton’s First Law.

If both people
pull equally
hard on the
rope the
forces on the
rope are
balanced.

The force of the gravity acting on the mass


pieces (weight) is balanced by the force of the
fixed spring pulling up (tension). So the mass
pieces remain stationary.

The force of gravity on the parachute and man


(weight) is balanced by the friction of the air (air
resistance) so the man descends at constant
velocity.
Grade 9 NS - Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

If the forces acting on an object do not balance out, then there will be a net force (overall force) also called
a resultant force. The forces are said to be unbalanced and the object will accelerate or decelerate. That
means the object will either start moving, stop moving, slow down or speed up or change direction. ​This is
the basis of Newton’s Second Law.

The forces applied by each team on the rope are not equal
therefore they are unbalanced.

The resultant force = 12 N right - 10 N left


The resultant force = 2 N right

This can explain how a parachute slows down a skydiver

Activity 2: Draw arrows to show the forces acting on the objects. Calculate resultant force
1. The car experiences a thrust force of 4000N forwards and a drag force of 1500N
backwards.

a. Draw arrows to represent this and label the forces.


b. Calculate the resultant force. NB remember your units
c. Indicate on the diagram the direction in which the car will accelerate.
d. If the car applied its brakes and this added a force of 3000N backwards. What would
the new resultant force be?
e. What would happen to the car?

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