Chapter 3: Forces and Energy

3.1 Forces and Motion

Force is defined as push and pull acting upon an object as
an result of its interaction with another object.
The longer the arrow,
• When forces are equal in size and opposite in direction, the greater the force.
the forces are balanced.
• Balanced forces cause no change in movement
--> object will not move
• When forces are not equal in size and/or act
in directions that are not opposite, the forces
are unbalanced.
• Unbalanced forces cause a change in movement:
speeding up, slowing down or changing direction
--> object moves

Force Diagrams
Arrows are used to represent forces
• Size: Size of the arrow shows the size of force
• Direction: Direction of arrow shows the direction of force

How to describe force?

1. It can make an object move or stop.
2. It produces changes in motion.
3. It can make an object change its shape and size.
4. It acts on objects
5. Expressed in NEWTON (N);
6. It is a vector quantity: magnitude and direction.
Unbalance forces causes:

• The object might speed up

• The object might slow down
• The object might change direction

Unbalanced force make an object • When a resting object is acted on by an

speeding up (accelerate) unbalanced force, the object will accelerate
in the direction of the unbalanced force

Unbalanced force make objects • When the parachute first opens, the forces
slow down are unbalanced.
• This unbalanced force makes the object
slow down.
• When the object slows, the air resistance
decreases, so the forces become balanced
again.
• Then the object falls at a constant speed.

Unbalanced force make object • The tennis ball will change direction
change direction because of an unbalanced force
• When the ball contacts the tennis racket,
the ball pushes on the tennis racket.
• To make the ball go back in the opposite
direction, the hitting force must be larger
than the force from the ball.

• Planets orbiting the sun due to force of

gravity
• The force of gravity in a planet is constant
There are 2 types of forces:
Contact Forces Non- contact Forces
Interacting objects are directly Interacting objects are not directly
touching touching

3.2 Speed
• Speed is a measure of how fast an object is moving
• Standard unit for speed is metres per second (m/s)

Note: average speed is sometimes used because the runner’s speed may change as they
run – they may be speeding up or slowing down. If required calculate average speed, use
the same formula of speed as above.
3.3 Describing Movement
A distance/time graph can be used to find out distances travelled and times
taken during a journey.

Draw a Distance/Time Graph to Represent a Journey

A cyclist rode up a steep hill and then down the other side. The journey is
divided into five sections, A–E. The table shows how far he had travelled at the
end of each stage. The information in the table has been used to draw the graph.

Using distance/time graphs

How To Use a Distance/Time Graph to Answer Questions About an Object’s

Movement.

Question 1: How far has the runner travelled after 10 s? Find 10 s on the time
axis. Draw a line straight up from this point until it reaches the graph line, as
shown.
Now draw horizontally across to the distance axis. The answer is 80 m.

Question 2: How long does the runner take to travel 100 m?

Find 100 m on the distance axis. Draw a line horizontally from this point
until it reaches the graph line, as shown. Now draw vertically down to the
time axis. The answer is 12.5 s.
Distance/time graphs
Distance is shown on the y-axis and time on the x-axis.

Ab object is moving at a Graph B shows the Object which is speeding

steady speed, the graph distance/time graphs for up. Its distance/time
will be a straight line two cars. graph curves upwards.
sloping upwards
The red car is going
faster than the blue one.
Its graph line slopes
upwards more steeply,
because it travels a
greater distance in each
second.
3.4 Turning Forces
Examples of forces that cause an object to turn.
1. When you push down on a door handle, the handle turns.
2. When you push down on the pedal of a bicycle, the pedal turns.
3. When you pull on a door, the door turns toward you.

• The object that turns is called a lever. The point around which the lever
turns is called the pivot.
• When you bend your arm, the arm acts as a lever. Your elbow is the pivot.
• A bicycle pedal is an example of a lever that turns around .
• A seesaw is a type of lever.
• The human body has many levers and pivots .

Moment

• The moment of a force describes the turning effect of a force.

• The moment of a force depends on:
 the size of the force (the bigger the force, the bigger the moment)
 the distance between the position where the force acts and the
pivot(the greater the distance, the greater the moment).
The size of a moment is defined by the equation:

• moment = force (N) × distance (d)

• Unit of moment is newton × metre, which is written as newton metre or
Nm.
Note: The unit of a moment is Newton metres (N m), but can also be Newton
centimetres (N cm) ie. where the distance is measured in cm instead. If the exam
question doesn't ask for a specific unit, always convert the distance into metres

The moment depends on the force and perpendicular distance to the pivot
3.5 Pressure between solids
• Pressure is defined as the force acting on unit area.

Unit of pressure is newtons per metre squared, or N/m²

Example of force:
1. The camel has large feet. This means the force from the weight of the
camel is applied over a large area. The pressure on the sand is
decreased, so the camel will not sink in the sand.

2. A woman is lying on a bed of nails. Each nail has a sharp point on the end.
The weight of the woman acts on many hundreds of nails, so the pressure
from each nail is very small.

3. The end of a pin has a sharp point. The sharp point has a small area to
increase pressure. The increased pressure means the pin will easily go
into wood or card.

4. Scissors have sharp blades. The area along the cutting edge of each
blade is small. This increases the pressure, making things easier to cut.
3.6 Pressure in liquids and gases

• Water coming out from the top is coming out with less force
• Water coming out from the further down id coming out with more force
• Pressure in the water increases with depth

Gas Pressure

• Gas particles move all the time.

• If the gas is inside a container, then the particles hit the walls of the
container as they move around.
• Each time a particle collides with the wall, the particles exerts a tiny
force.
• There are huge numbers of particles colliding with the wall, creating the
gas pressure.
• Gas pressure- effect of the forces caused by particles of a gas
colliding with the walls of a container.

Pressure and depth in gases

• As with liquids, the pressure in a gas increases with depth.
• Most people on Earth live at low altitudes.
• Altitude is height above sea level.
• The Earth’s atmosphere, which we call air, is made from gases.
• The atmosphere extends to a height of about above sea level.
• Sea level is, therefore, where the atmosphere is at its deepest.
• So, at sea level, atmospheric pressure is highest.
 • As you go higher in the atmosphere, two variables that affect
atmospheric pressure change:
 The number of particles in of air decreases, so the concentration
of gas particles decreases
 The weight of air above your current position decreases.
• We are not aware of the pressure from the atmosphere because we live
in the atmosphere all the time.

Effects of atmospheric pressure

 If use a vacuum pump to pump air out of a plastic bottle, there are
fewer air particles inside the bottle.
 The frequency of collisions of particles with the walls on the inside of
the bottle is less. The pressure inside the container becomes close to
zero.
 The pressure on the outside does not change.
 On the outside of the bottle, there are lots of air particles colliding
with the walls of the bottle.
 The pressure on the outside is greater than the pressure on the inside,
so the walls of the bottle are pushed inwards.

The Collapsing Bottle Experiment

Higher Temperature, More Pressure

• As the temperature of a gas increases, the speed of the particles in
the gas increases.
• When particles are traveling faster, their collisions exert more force.
• They hit the walls of their container more often. This increases the
pressure.
• Application: High pressure is used to cook food
 Water and food are placed inside the pressure cooker.
 The pressure cooker has a sealed lid.
 When the water boils, the steam cannot escape so the pressure of
the gas inside increases.
 On top of the pressure cooker, there is a weight to control the
pressure and valves that allow steam to escape, once the required
pressure has been reached.
 Steam inside a pressure cooker has a higher pressure due to its
high temperature.
Exercise

Speed
1. A car travels 100 m in 5 s. What is its average speed?

2. A red car travels 400 m in 20 s. A blue car travels 660 m in 30 s.

3. Which car has the greater average speed?

4. If Steve throws the football 50 meters in 3 seconds, what is the average

speed (velocity) of the football?

5. Bart ran 5000 meters from the cops and an average speed (velocity) of 6
meters/second before he got caught. How long did he run?

6. A cargo ship travels at an average speed of 12 m/s. How long will it take
to travel between two ports which are 600 km apart?
Moment
1. Jane weighs 400 N. She sits on a see-saw 1.5 m from the pivot (centre).
Calculate the moment caused by Jane.

2. Amir weighs 500 N. He sits on a seesaw 200 cm from the pivot (centre).
Calculate the moment caused by Amir.

3. Two children weigh 300 N and 400 N, they sit 2 m and 3 m away from the
pivot (centre) on the same side of the see-saw. What is their total moment?

4. Zara weighs 450 N. Zara sits on a seesaw at a distance of 1.5 m from the
pivot. Sofia weighs 500 N. Sofia sits on the seesaw on the other side of the
pivot from Zara. Calculate the distance from the pivot that Sofia must sit to
balance the seesaw.
Force

1. The weight of the elephant is 50 000 N. The total area of all four feet is 0.4
m². What is the total pressure that the elephant exerts on the ground?

2. The total weight of a bicycle and rider is 1000 [Link] bicycle has two tyres in
contact with the ground and the weight is supported equally on both tyres. The
area of each tyre in contact with the ground is 5 cm2What is the pressure that
each tyre exerts on the ground?

3. Zara weighs 450 N. Zara sits on a seesaw at a distance of 1.5 m from the
pivot. Sofia weighs 500 N. Sofia sits on the seesaw on other side of the pivot
from Zara. Calculate the distance from the pivot that Sofia must sit to balance
the seesaw.
Distance/time graphs