Chapter 2

Newton's 2nd law and its

applications

By Dr. Ali Atwi

Newton’s Laws of Motion

• 1st Law – An object at rest will stay at rest, and

an object in motion will stay in motion at
constant velocity, unless acted upon by an
unbalanced force.
• 2nd Law – Force equals mass times
acceleration.
• 3rd Law – For every action there is an equal
and opposite reaction.
1st Law of Motion
(Law of Inertia)

An object at rest will stay at

rest, and an object in motion
will stay in motion at
constant velocity, unless acted
upon by an unbalanced force.
What does this mean?
Basically, an object will “keep doing what it
was doing” unless acted on by an
unbalanced force.

If the object was sitting still, it will remain

stationary. If it was moving at a constant
velocity, it will keep moving.

It takes force to change the motion of an

object.
What is meant by unbalanced
force?

If the forces on an object are equal and opposite, they are said
to be balanced, and the object experiences no change in
motion. If they are not equal and opposite, then the forces are
unbalanced and the motion of the object changes.
Some Examples from Real Life
A soccer ball is sitting at rest. It
takes an unbalanced force of a kick
to change its motion.

Two teams are playing tug of war. They are both

exerting equal force on the rope in opposite
directions. This balanced force results in no
change of motion.
Newton’s First Law is also called
the Law of Inertia

Inertia: the tendency of an object to resist

changes in its state of motion

The First Law states that all objects have

inertia. The more mass an object has, the
more inertia it has (and the harder it is to
change its motion).
More Examples from Real Life
A powerful locomotive begins to pull a
long line of boxcars that were sitting at
rest. Since the boxcars are so massive,
they have a great deal of inertia and it
takes a large force to change their
motion. Once they are moving, it takes
a large force to stop them.

On your way to school, a bee

flies into your windshield. Since
the bee is so small, it has very
little inertia and exerts a very
small force on your car (so small
that you don’t even feel it).
If objects in motion tend to stay in motion, why
don’t moving objects keep moving forever?
Things don’t keep moving forever because
there’s almost always an unbalanced force
acting upon it.
A book sliding across a table slows
down and stops because of the force
of friction.

If you throw a ball upwards it will

eventually slow down and fall
because of the force of gravity.
What is this unbalanced force that acts on an
object in motion?

Friction!
 Why then, do we observe
every day objects in motion
slowing down and becoming
motionless seemingly without
an outside force?
It’s a force we sometimes cannot see –
friction.
2nd Law

F=mxa
2nd Law
The net force of an object is
equal to the product of its
mass and acceleration, or
F=ma.
2nd Law (F = m x a)
• How much force is needed to accelerate a 1400
kilogram car 2 m/s2

• Write the formula

• F=mxa
• Fill in given numbers and units
• F = 1400 kg x 2 m/s2

• Solve for the unknown

•2800 N
 What does F = ma say?
F = ma basically means that the force of an object
comes from its mass and its acceleration.
Something very massive (high mass)
that’s changing speed very slowly (low
acceleration), like a glacier, can still
have great force.

Something very small (low mass) that’s

changing speed very quickly (high
acceleration), like a bullet, can still
have a great force. Something very
small changing speed very slowly will
have a very weak force.
3rd Law

•For every action, there is an

equal and opposite reaction.
3rd Law
According to Newton,
whenever objects A
and B interact with
each other, they exert
forces upon each
other. When you sit in
your chair, your body
exerts a downward
force on the chair and
the chair exerts an
upward force on your
body.
3rd Law

There are two forces

resulting from this
interaction - a force
on the chair and a
force on your body.
These two forces are
called action and
reaction forces.
3rd Law
Flying gracefully
through the air, birds
depend on Newton’s
third law of motion. As
the birds push down on
the air with their wings,
the air pushes their
wings up and gives
them lift.
 The reaction of a rocket is
3rd Law an application of the third
law of motion. Various
fuels are burned in the
engine, producing hot
gases.
The hot gases push against
the inside tube of the rocket
and escape out the bottom
of the tube. As the gases
move downward, the rocket
moves in the opposite
direction.
Free Fall Projectile Motion

Inclined Plane

θ mg
 Inclined Planes
• Label the direction of N and mg.

θ mg
 Inclined Planes
• Mark the direction of motion.

motion

θ mg
Inclined Planes
• Choose the coordinate system with x in the same
or opposite direction of motion and y
perpendicular to x.
y

N x

motion

θ mg
Inclined Planes
• Now some trigonometry

N x

motion

θ
90- θ
θ mg
 Inclined Planes
• Replace the force of gravity with its components.

N x

motion

θ
θ mg
 Inclined Planes
• Use Newton’s second law for both the x or
direction of motion and y directions

y
Fx = max = ma

N x
 mg sin  = ma
motion
Fy = ma y = 0
θ
θ mg  N − mg cos  = 0
Application 2
A truck, considered as a particle of mass m = 5000 Kg, Starts from a
point O in its way up an inclined road, making an angle 370 with the
horizontal. The truck moves with a constant speed under the action of a
constant traction force of the engine. Assume that the frictional force are
constant of magnitude fr = 10000 N. (Take g =10 m/s2 and sin 370 = 0.6)
1. Determine the magnitude F of the traction force of the engine
2. Determine the magnitude F, if the truck moves with acceleration 2m/s2
Free Fall
Free Fall
Falling Objects
Imagine there is no air
resistance…
An object moving under
the influence of the
gravitational force only is
said to be in free fall.
Free Fall
• When the only force acting on an object is
gravity, the object is said to be in free fall

• In a vacuum (no air) all objects in free fall

accelerate at the same rate, regardless of mass

Hammer Feather
 Free Fall

No Air

On Earth, gravity is not the only force on an

object in free fall. The acorn falls faster than
the leaf because it has less air resistance.

In a Vacuum acorn and

leaf fall at same speed
PROJECTILE
MOTION
Projectile motion
Idealized model of projectile
motion

v H

R
 Projectile
v
H

R
 Point of v
projection
H

R
Velocity of
projection v
H

R
Angle of projection

Angle of
H
projection

R
Trajectory

v Trajectory
H

R
Time of flight

T
θ Time
of
flight
R
 Maximum
v height

R
Horizontal
range
Important conclusion
What equations do we use?
•
Always analyze the x-direction and y-
direction separately
 Projectile Motion

The combined
motion looks
like this:

The path is not

a straight line
but an arc of a
parabola.
 Projectile Motion

When projectiles are launched at an angle,

the initial velocity has a horizontal and a
vertical component.
v
vy

vx