Intro to

Forces
 Learning Objectives
2

✓ Describe the effects of forces between bodies such as changes

in speed, shape or direction

✓ Identify different types of force such as gravitational (weight),

normal reaction, friction, drag, thrust, upthrust, magnetic and
electrostatic.

✓ Understand how vector quantities differ from scalar quantities

✓ Understand that force is a vector quantity

✓ Calculate the resultant force of forces that act along a line

✓ Know that friction is a force that opposes motion

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A. Force
A force is a push or a pull that one body exerts on another.
Forces can change the state of motion of a body and the shape
of a body.

PUSH PULL
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A. Force
Force is a vector quantity. Therefore, it has
both size and direction.

The SI unit of force is newton,

N, named after Sir Isaac
Newton.
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A. Force
Forces can be measured using a
newtonmeter. Newtonmeters contain a
spring connected to a metal hook. The
spring stretches when a force is applied
to the hook. The bigger the force applied,
the longer the spring stretches and the
bigger the reading.
 B. Types of forces
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1. Gravitational force is a force of attraction between any two

masses. The size of this force increases when:

I. The masses are larger

II. The masses are closer together

Even you attract other objects to you, but you have too little
mass for the force to be significant! Only when one or both of
the objects has an extremely large mass – for example, a
planet or a moon – is the force of attraction significant.
 B. Types of forces
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The weight of an object is the gravitational force by which the

Earth pulls an object downwards, towards its centre. All objects
on or near the surface of the Earth experience gravitational force.

weight
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 B. Types of forces
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Normal reaction force is a contact force (support force) that

always acts perpendicular (at 90 o) to the surface. Without this
force you would sink into the ground!

normal reaction
 B. Types of forces
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3. Friction is the force that opposes the motion of an object. It

occurs when two solid surfaces rub on each other. Friction is
also the force that allows a car’s wheels to grip the road and
make it accelerate.
 B. Types of forces
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friction
friction

friction
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In certain situations, friction is essential:

 we could not walk if friction did not exist between the soles of

our shoes and the ground (think of walking on ice!)

In other situations, friction is undesired:
 engineers try to reduce friction to a minimum in the moving

parts of a machinery (e.g. by using lubricating oils) because

friction wastes energy and causes them to wear out.
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4. Air resistance, water resistance or drag is a type of

friction (so it opposes motion) that acts upon objects as
they move through air, other gas or liquid.

air resistance
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Drag force increases with the velocity of the object and the
cross-sectional area of the object. Drag also depends on the
shape of the object. Steamlined shapes reduce drag force.
 B. Types of forces
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5. Thrust is the force generated by an engine of a vehicle.

thrust
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6. Upthrust is the upward force exerted on an object when it is

partially or completely immersed in a fluid (gas or liquid).

upthrust upthrust
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7. Magnetic forces are the forces that magnets exert on other

magnets or things made of magnetic materials (iron, steel,
nickel, cobalt).
 B. Types of forces
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8. Electrostatic is the force between electrically charged

objects.
 B. Types of forces
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9. Tension is the force developed in a rope, string, or

cable when stretched.
 B. Types of forces
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Forces can be described as contact or non-contact.

 B. Types of forces - Examples
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1. Label the forces acting on the boat that moves to the right.
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2. Label the forces acting on the book placed a) on a table and b) on a

sloping surface.
a) b)
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Normal
reaction force

Box resting
Lines of action
on the floor
through centre of
mass of the box.
Force drawn where
acting. Forces
drawn to scale. Weight
 B. Types of forces
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A car climbing a
steep road at a
constant speed.
The centre of gravity
of the car is marked
with a dot C.
 B. Types of forces
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A free-body diagram shows the object isolated, and all the forces
(not components) that act on it drawn in at the points where they
act, using arrows to represent the forces. Take care with the line of
action of each force.
 C. Resultant Force
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❖ Usually, there are more than just one force acting on an object.
❖ Remember that forces are vector quantities – the direction in
which they act makes a difference to the effect that they have
on the objects that they act upon.
❖ The + and – signs just show that the forces are acting in
opposite directions.
 C. Resultant Force
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The resultant force is that force which can replace all other forces
acting on an object, without changing their effect.

Calculating the resultant force:

1st step: Decide which direction is the positive (+) direction

2nd step: Write a symbol equation
3rd step: Plug in the numbers and solve for the unknown
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C. Resultant Force
 C. Resultant Force - Examples
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1. Find the resultant force acting on the following objects:

a)
F1 = 10 N
F2 = 20 N
b)
F1 = 10 N

F2 = 10 N
 C. Resultant Force - Examples
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1. Find the resultant force acting on the following objects:

c)

F3 = 50 N
F1 = 40 N
F2 = 20 N
 C. Resultant Force - Examples
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2. Calculate F2 if the resultant force acting on the box is 15 N to

the right.

F2 F1 = 25 N
 C. Resultant Force - Examples
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3. Work out the magnitude and direction of

the resultant force acting on X.
 C. Resultant Force Vector
Diagrams
34

The size and direction of the arrow represents

the size and direction of the vector.
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C. Resultant Force

Perpendicular F2 F2
vectors are also easy
to combine – F1 F1
Pythagoras’s theorem
or graphically using a
scale drawing

Fy F = Fx 2 + Fy 2
F Fy
 tan  =
Fx
Fx
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C. Resultant Force
Scale: 2 cm = 1 N
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C. Resultant Force
The picture shows the boat towing a small dinghy.

The tension force in the tow rope causes a horizontal force forwards and a vertical
force upwards on the dinghy.

horizontal force forwards = 150 N

vertical force upwards = 50 N

Draw a vector diagram to determine the magnitude of the tension force in the tow
rope and the direction of the force this causes on the dinghy.
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C. Resultant Force
A single force can be resolved into two
components acting at right angles to each other.

The two component forces together have the same

effect as the single force.
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C. Resultant Force
The tension in the cable is 2000 N. The tension force in the cable
can be resolved into a horizontal component and a vertical
component. Determine the magnitude of the two components of the
tension force in the cable.
 C. Resultant Force
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Balanced forces

When the resultant force is zero (ΣF = 0), the

forces acting on a body are said to be balanced.

When the forces acting on a body are balanced,

the body does not change its state of motion.
Therefore, if the body is stationary (not moving) it
remains stationary. If the body is moving it will
continue to move at constant velocity (at a
constant speed in a straight line).
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C. Resultant Force
A child of weight 440 N on a swing is pulled to one
side.

The diagram shows the forces acting on the seat of the

swing when it is in equilibrium
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Unbalanced forces

When the resultant force is not zero (ΣF ≠ 0),

the forces acting on a body are said to be
unbalanced.

When the forces acting on a body are

unbalanced, the body does change its state of
motion. Therefore, if the body is stationary it will
start to move. If the body is moving it will either
speed up, slow down or change the direction
in which it is moving.
 D. Changing shapes
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Forces can also change the shape of an object. The change of

shape is either temporary (e.g. the suspension spring in a
bicycle) or permanent (e.g. crushed can).