The big picture

Have you ever wondered why a ball will bounce on the floor but an egg will
not? Look at Video 1 and Video 2.
Video 1. A Ball Bouncing.
Video 2. An Egg Cracking.
Video 3 shows a Newton’s cradle. How does a Newton’s cradle work? One ball
hits another ball and something is transferred, but what? How does the motion
of one ball affect another ball? And why do the balls in the middle not move?
Video 3. Newton's cradle.
At the moment, you are probably sitting on a chair and looking at a screen. How
fast do you think you are moving through space? You may not feel like you are
moving at all, but you are actually moving at hundreds of kilometres per hour.
All the examples above are about bodies interacting. In this subtopic, you are
going to see how bodies interact and why bodies move in the first place.
Nature of Science
Motion can be studied with a kinematics approach, using quantities such as position, velocity

and acceleration. It can also be studied from a dynamics approach, using quantities such as

force and momentum.

This is common in physics. One phenomenon can be looked at from different perspectives,

which supplement each other to give us a complete picture. Every new physics tool gives us a

better insight into known problems.

Prior learning
Before you study this subtopic make sure that you understand the following:

●​ Understanding, drawing and adding vectors (see subtopic A.1).

●​ Determining the area under the line on a graph (see subtopic A.1).

The forces
The Ever Given is one of the largest container ships in the world (Figure 1). In
2021, the Ever Given ran aground, blocking the Suez Canal. The ship has a
mass of over 200 million kg. Why does such a massive object not sink?

Figure 1. The Ever Given container ship.

Source: “EVER GIVEN (51343282339)” by kees torn is licenced under CC BY-SA 2.0

Imagine throwing a ball of modelling clay onto the floor. What happens to the
ball of clay? Does the clay stay the same shape?

Forces
A
force is a physical quantity that describes the interaction between bodies.
●​ When bodies interact, forces are experienced by the bodies.
●​ When bodies stop interacting, the forces stop.
A force can:
●​ change the motion of an object – set it in motion or stop it from moving
●​ change the shape or size of a body.
Creativity, activity, service
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In certain very unusual materials, increasing the rate at which force is applied makes it harder to

change the shape of an object. These objects are typically made from materials called

non-Newtonian fluids. You can even make some at home with some simple ingredients.

Video 1. Making non-Newtonian fluids.

What products can you think of that would make good use of a material like this? Can you

design something that would be of benefit to an individual or community? How could your

design help them?

In this section, you are going to look at how forces affect the motion of objects.
We say that a force is applied to, acts on, or is exerted on or by a body.
Force, F, is a vector quantity (see section A.1.1). This means force has a
magnitude (how strong the force is) and a direction in which the force is
applied. Force is measured in newtons (N).
Study skills
You need to know the difference between scalars (magnitude only) and vectors (magnitude and

direction) (section A.1.1). If we talk about the temperature of an object, it does not have a

direction. If we talk about the velocity of the object, it needs a direction to fully describe the

motion.

For a body to experience a force, the body needs to interact with another body.
This means that whenever there is a force, two or more bodies are involved.
Several forces can act on each of the interacting bodies.
A force cannot be experienced by an isolated body. However, to simplify
problems in physics, we draw a diagram that shows the forces on the body we
are interested in. This is called a free-body diagram. Figure 2 shows a free-body
diagram showing the forces acting on an object.

Figure 2. A free-body diagram showing the forces acting on an object.

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Study skills
You need to know how to draw and interpret free-body diagrams. When drawing free-body

diagrams only include the forces that act on the body you are investigating.

Forces are vectors. When you analyse forces, you need to be able to (section
A.1.1):
●​ add forces as vectors
●​ resolve force vectors into components.

Adding forces
The sum of all the forces acting on a body is called the
resultant force. The resultant force has the same result on the body as all the individual forces
acting together on the body. In other words, the resultant force is the single force that can
replace all the individual forces acting on a body.
Table 1 shows the resultant force acting on each body.
 Forces Resultant force

Table 1. Resultant forces.

Resolving forces
We can resolve a force into components at right angles to each other (see section
A.1.1). Figure 3 shows how a force F can be resolved into two forces, Fx and
Fy.

Figure 3. Resolving a force into its components.

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Worked example 1
The free-body diagram shows the forces acting on a body. Determine magnitude
of the resultant force acting on the body.

Figure 4. The forces acting on a body.

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Newton’s third law of motion
Forces never occur on their own – there is always a pair of forces in nature. This
is something you experience every time you touch an object. Take a pen and
press your finger against the tip. You are pressing against the pen, so why is
your finger feeling a force from the pen?
This is an example of action and reaction, also known as
Newton’s third law of motion. Newton’s third law states that any two bodies interact by applying
forces on each other. These forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. So, we can
say that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.
This means that when you press against the pen with a force F, the pen is also
pressing against your finger with an equal force F, in the opposite direction.
Study skills
It is very important to remember that action and reaction are forces that act on different bodies.

This means that you cannot add them together.

Field forces
Magicians sometimes perform tricks where they seem to move objects from a
distance with their minds (Video 1). Can objects be moved without touching
them?There are forces in nature that act at a distance. Objects can be very far
away from each other but still attracted to or repulsed from each other. How can
this happen?

Fields
The concept of a
field is used to explain how forces can act at a distance.
If you have ever experimented with a magnet, you have experienced the effects
of a field. Particular objects (including other magnets, and items made of iron or
steel) experience attractive or repulsive forces when they are near a magnet. The
magnet is affecting the space around it, which is now said to contain a magnetic
field. This field (or force field) is not directly visible, but its existence can be
deduced from its effects on other objects.
Because field forces act at a distance, the bodies that interact do not need to be
touching. Field forces include gravitational force, electric force and magnetic
force.

Gravitational force
The athlete in Figure 1 uses skill and technique to jump high and pass over the
bar. But no matter how high she jumps, she always lands back on the mat. There
is a force that pulls the athlete back down toward the Earth. It is the same force
that keeps you sitting on a chair or lying in bed.
This force is called the
gravitational force, Fg. It is also known as the weight of a body. You experience
it when you are standing on the ground, jumping, or in an aeroplane in the sky.
Every object that has mass experiences the gravitational force. The direction of
the gravitational force is toward the centre of the Earth. For objects near the
surface of the Earth, we can calculate the magnitude of this force using the
equation in Table 1.
Gravitational force (weight) is proportional to the mass of the object and the
acceleration of free fall:
●​ The greater the mass, the greater the gravitational force.
●​ The greater the acceleration of free fall, the greater the gravitational force.
Acceleration of free fall is considered to be a constant close to the surface of the
Earth. In reality, the value of acceleration of free fall varies depending on where
you are on the Earth.
Acceleration of free fall is different on other planets. For example, on Jupiter, it
is 2.5 times larger than on the Earth. This means that if you were standing on the
surface of Jupiter, you would weigh 2.5 times more. On the Moon, the
acceleration of free fall is about
of that on the Earth. On the Moon, you would weigh only
of what you weigh on the Earth.

During free fall, a body accelerates with a constant acceleration equal to the
acceleration of free fall, g (see section A.1.3). The only force on the object is
weight. This is only true when there is no (or negligible) air resistance. When
there is air resistance, a heavy object will fall faster than a light object. When
objects with very different masses fall in a vacuum chamber (air has been
removed), the objects fall simultaneously (Video 2).
[Link]

Electric force
Video 3 shows what happens when you run a comb through your hair then bring

it close to some pieces of paper – the paper is attracted to the comb.

[Link]

This happens because when you run the comb through your hair, you charge the

comb.
Electric charge is a property of matter and depends on the matter’s microscopic structure. There

are two types of charge: positive charge (+) and negative charge (−) (subtopic D.2).

Charged bodies interact with a force called the

electric force, Fe. The forces between charges can be attractive or repelling (Figure 3).

●​ Like charges (two positive charges or two negative charges) repel each

other.

●​ Opposite charges (positive charge and negative charge) attract each other.

●​ The greater the charge, the greater the electric force.

Investigate the effect of charge using the simulation in Interactive 1. Rub the

balloon on the jumper. What type of charge does the balloon now have? Use the

idea of positive and negative charge to explain why the balloon now sticks to
the wall. (Note that in the simulation the balloon sticks to the wall even when it

is not charged, which would not happen in real life.)

Magnetic force
Some trains travel without touching the rails. They are called magnetic

levitation (maglev) trains (Figure 4). They float approximately 10 cm above the

rails, and they can reach over 400 km h−1. How is this possible?

Maglev trains make use of another force that acts at a distance, the
magnetic force, Fm. This force occurs between bodies that behave as magnets.
Whether a body will behave as a magnet depends on its microscopic structure,

and some objects can be magnetised. All magnets have a north pole (N) and a

south pole (S). Like poles repel each other, and opposite poles attract each other.

Figure 5 shows the magnetic force between bar magnets.

Maglev train engineers use magnets that repel each other to make the train

levitate and travel without touching the rails.

Bodies can have a positive charge or a negative charge, but a body cannot only

have a north pole or a south pole. If you cut a magnet in half, you get two

smaller magnets, each with a north pole and a south pole.

Drag and drop the ‘attract’ and ‘repel’ labels into the correct positions in

Interactive 2.

Normal force, friction, tension

Put your foot lightly on the ground and try to slide it sideways (Figure 1). Think

about how hard you have to push it. Next, do the same thing but this time push

down harder with your foot when you are sliding it sideways. Is it easier or

harder to slide? What forces are acting here? What changes would make it

easier or harder to slide your foot?

Normal force
Field forces are non-contact forces – the two bodies do not need to be touching

for them to exert a force on each other (see section A.2.2). If the two bodies

need to be touching for a force to act, then the force is a contact force.

Imagine a mug resting on a desk. The Earth exerts a downwards pull on the mug

(which we call the weight of the mug). This makes the mug push downwards

against the desk. As a result, the desk pushes upwards on the mug with a force

of the same size. When two objects in contact push against each other, these

forces are called

normal forces, FN. Figure 2 shows the forces acting on the mug. It is a

free-body diagram of the mug and so it does not show the normal force acting

on the desk.
Frictional force
Take a book and place an eraser on it. Lift up one end of the book slowly and

observe what happens (Figure 4). Does the eraser slide down immediately? Can

you find the angle at which the eraser starts sliding?

t is the

frictional force that prevents the eraser from sliding down when you lift the

book at a small angle. The frictional force acts when two bodies are in contact.

It acts in a direction parallel to the plane of contact between the body and the

surface.

Imagine you have a heavy box on the floor in your room. You start pushing

lightly on the box but it does not move – why?

The reason is because of the frictional force between the box and the floor.

Static friction acts between two bodies at rest. It prevents the box from moving

until you push hard enough. Then the force you exert overcomes static friction

and the box starts moving along the floor.

The frictional force acting on a stationary body can be determined using the

equation in Table 1.
The coefficient of static friction and the coefficient of dynamic friction depend

on the type of surface. The greater the coefficient, the greater the frictional

force.

Frictional force is also proportional to the normal force, so heavier objects

experience greater frictional force.

The object is initially stationary. Static friction increases as the applied force

increases, up to maximum value. This is called the maximum static friction or

threshold of motion. At this point, the object starts to move. The static friction

decreases and stabilises at a fixed value of dynamic friction.

The frictional force needed to keep a body at rest is greater than the frictional

force needed to oppose the motion of the body.

Static friction depends on the magnitude of the applied force, while dynamic

friction does not depend on the magnitude of the applied force.

The frictional force:

 ●​ acts on stationary bodies and moving bodies

●​ depends on the types of surfaces in contact

●​ depends on the weight of the body.

Tension force
Imagine that a climber is hanging from the roof of a cave using a rope (Figure

7).

The climber is applying a force to the rope, and the rope exerts a force on the

climber. The force that the rope experiences is called the

tension force, FT. It has the same magnitude but opposite direction to the

applied force – in this case, the weight of the climber.

Figure 7. Tension force.

The tension force acts along the length of the rope – it pulls the roof of the cave

down and the climber up.

If we are interested in studying the climber, or any body connected to a fixed

point by a rope or wire, then we should include the tension force FT in the

body’s free body diagram and take it into account.

A pulley is used with a rope to change the direction of a force, without affecting

the magnitude of the force. Figure 8 shows a pulley being used to raise a mass.

Elastic force, drag, buoyancy

Elastic restoring force
The bungee jumper in Video 1 almost reaches the water then is pulled back up.

This happens because the rope is elastic. This means that it extends then returns

to its original length.

The rope acts as a spring. Springs can change their length then go back to their

original length. Imagine a spring on a table (Figure 1):

 ●​ The natural length of the spring is the length of the spring when you are

not pushing or pulling the spring.

●​ If you push the spring, the spring gets shorter (compression).

●​ If you pull the spring, the spring gets longer (elongation).

When the spring is pushed or pulled, the spring exerts an opposing force that

tries to bring itself back to its natural length.

Figure 1. A spring on a table.

The force that returns a spring to its natural length is called the

elastic restoring force, FH. The direction of the force is always toward the

natural length.

The elastic restoring force follows

Hooke’s law. Hooke’s law states that the restoring force acting to return a spring

to its length is proportional to the extension of the spring. Remember, it is the

extension of the spring (how much it has been stretched by), not its total length.

Figure 2. Hooke's law.

The spring constant is a property of the spring. The higher the value, the stiffer

the spring.

The minus sign in the equation above tells us that the direction of the elastic

restoring force, FH, is opposite to the direction of the displacement, x.

It is the elastic restoring force that pulls a bungee jumper up, so that they do not

hit the water or the ground.

Figure 3 shows a graph of applied force, F, against displacement, x. The force

is directly proportional to the displacement (extension or compression). The

gradient of the graph line gives you the spring constant, k.

Figure 3. A graph of applied force against displacement

Viscous drag force

A fluid is a gas or a liquid. When a body is moving inside a fluid, it experiences

a force from the fluid that opposes its motion. This is a resistive force, just like

air resistance (see section A.1.3). The particles of the fluid exert a force on the

surface of the body, opposing its motion. This force is called the
viscous drag force (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Viscous drag force.

Viscous drag force depends on the viscosity of a fluid. Viscosity is the property

of a fluid that describes the fluid’s resistance to flow. A lower viscosity means it

is easier for the fluid to flow – water (low viscosity) is easier to pour than syrup

(high viscosity).

Calculating viscous drag force is complicated. The force depends on the shape

of the object that moves inside the fluid. Some shapes result in less resistance.

In IB physics, we only look at the force experienced by a small spherical body

that moves with a relatively small velocity inside the fluid.

The viscous drag force can be determined using the equation in Table 2.
The viscous drag force is proportional to the velocity of the body, so the faster a

body travels in a fluid, the greater the resistance it experiences. If you stick your

hand out of the window of a slow-moving car, and then out the window of a

fast-moving car, you will feel a different force on your hand.

Buoyancy
A large container ship has a mass of about 200 000 000 kg. How can such a

massive ship float in the ocean?

Buoyancy, Fb, is the force experienced by a body when it is partly or fully

immersed in a fluid. (It is sometimes called ‘upthrust’.) Buoyancy is what

makes bodies, such as container ship, float on the surface of a fluid, such as

water (Figure 5).

Figure 5. Buoyancy.

Some bodies float and other bodies do not float. In both cases, the bodies

experience buoyancy.

Buoyancy is caused by the difference in pressure between the top and bottom of

a body in a fluid (Figure 6).

Figure 6. The pressure on an object in a fluid.

Imagine that a rock is fully immersed in water. Since the rock occupies a certain

volume, it displaces the water in all directions. The Ancient Greek inventor and

mathematician Archimedes noticed and developed a principle that helps us

calculate buoyancy:

The buoyancy experienced by a body immersed in a fluid is equal to the weight

of the fluid displaced.

Figure 7 shows the volume of water displaced, V, when a rock is dropped into a

measuring cylinder of water.

Figure 7. The volume of water displaced by a rock.

However, ρf Vf equals the mass of displaced fluid, and multiplying it by g gives

the weight of displaced fluid. Therefore the buoyancy is equal in magnitude to

the weight of fluid displaced, as stated in Archimedes’ Principle.