CHAPTER SEVEN: DYNAMICS

7.1 Types of forces – Gravitational force (Kepler’s laws, escape velocity), centripetal, friction etc
7.2 Newton's laws of motion
7.3 Momentum and conservation of momentum
7.4 Types of collisions

7.1 Types of forces

Force denotes a push or a pull. It’s a vector quantity. When a force is applied to a body it begins to
move. For a moving body, an external force can alter its velocity and probably bring it to rest. Therefore,
force is that which changes a body’s state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line. Force causes a
body to accelerate. Force is measured in Newton's (N).

a) Gravitational force.
It is the universal force of attraction, which is acting between objects. It is one of the fundamental forces
of the universe.

Newton's law of universal gravitation

It states that every particle in the universe attracts every other with a force which is proportional to the
product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of their separation.
i.e. F = Gm1m2
r2.
Where;
F is the gravitational force of attraction between two bodies whose masses are m1 and m2 and whose
centers are a distance r apart, G is the universal gravitational constant (G = 6.67 x 10-11 Nm2kg-2).

Kepler’s Laws
Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are three scientific laws describing the motion of planets around
the sun. They include;
i. The planets travel around the sun not in circles but in elliptical orbits, with the sun at one focal
point.
ii. A planet’s speed is not uniform, but is such that the line segment from the sun to the planet
sweeps out equal areas in equal time intervals.
iii. The squares of the periods of revolution of the planets are proportional to the cubes of their
mean distances from the sun.

1. Kepler’s first law:

The planets move in elliptical orbits around the sun
. This means that the orbit is oval-shaped and not an exact circle. An elliptical path has two foci and the
sun is at one of the two foci of the elliptical path.

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2. Kepler’s second law:
Each planet revolves around the sun in such a way that the line joining the planet to the sun sweeps
over equal areas in equal intervals of time. i.e A1 = A2. This means that a planet moves faster when it is
closer to the sun and moves slowly when it is farther from the sun.

3. Kepler’s third law:

The cube of the mean distance of a planet from the sun is directly proportional to the square of time it
takes to move around the sun.
Consider the motion of a planet moving in a circle round the sun S as centre. The force acting on the
planet of mass m is mrω2, where r is the radius of the circle and ω is the angular velocity of the motion.

Since ω = 2π/T, where T is the period of the motion,

The centripetal force on planet F = mr(2π/T)2 =(4π2mr)/T2.
(The centripetal force on the planet is provided by the gravitational force of attraction of the sun on the
planet.)

The gravitational force of attraction of the sun on the planet, F = km/r2, where k is a constant.
Assuming an inverse square law
km/r2= (4π2mr)/T2,

⇒ T2 = 4π2r3
k
Hence T2 ∝ r3. Since k and 𝜋 are constants.

NB/ Newton used the Kepler’s third law of planetary motion to develop the law of universal gravitation
which showed that the cause of motion of planets is the gravitational force which the sun exerts on
them.

summary
1. The planetary orbit is not a circle, but an ellipse.
2. The Sun is not at the center but at a focal point of the elliptical orbit.
3. Neither the linear speed nor the angular speed of the planet in the orbit is constant, but the area
speed (closely linked historically with the concept of angular momentum) is constant.

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ESCAPE VELOCITY
Escape velocity, is the velocity needed for a body to escape from a gravitational centre of attraction
without undergoing any further acceleration.
- In simple terms, escape velocity refers to the minimum speed at which an object must travel to break
free from a planet's gravitational pull. It's the speed needed for an object to leave a planet's surface and
not fall back due to gravity. For instance, a spacecraft departing Earth must travel at approximately 7
miles per second, or roughly 25,000 miles per hour, to escape Earth's gravitational pull and not return
to the surface.
DERIVING THE ESCAPE VELOCITY FORMULA
To find the escape velocity, apply the law of conservation of energy states that energy can neither be
created nor be destroyed.
Therefore, total energy at the surface = total energy at infinity
Ui + Ki = Uf + Kf
Where Ui - Potential energy of the object on the surface
Ki - Kinetic energy of the object on the surface
Uf - Potential energy of the object at infinity
Kf - Kinetic energy of the object at infinity

For escape, set both terms on the right to zero, since we assume that the object had just enough energy
to reach infinitely far away, which means no kinetic energy once it has reached infinity and therefore
comes to rest. Its gravitational energy will also be zero at infinity because R becomes infinitely large
and therefore the gravitational potential energy becomes infinitely small

For a planet of mass M and radius R, the potential energy of an object of mass m at the planet's
surface is: U= - G m M
R.
Therefore; - G m M + ½ mve2 = 0
R.

From this equation, the escape velocity can be easily formulated which is:

Where,
 Ve is the escape velocity
 G is the gravitational constant is 6.67408 × 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2
 M is the mass of the attracting mass i.e/ A planet
 R is the distance from the centre of that mass

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Alternatively, putting the value of g = GM/R2, the value of escape velocity becomes:

The escape velocity formula is applied in finding the escape velocity of any body or any planet
if mass and radius (or radius and gravity (g)) are known.
-At Earth’s surface, if atmospheric resistance could be disregarded, escape velocity would be
about 11.2 km (6.96 miles) per second or 11,200 m/s. The velocity of escape from the less
massive Moon is about 2.4 km (1.5 miles) per second or 2400m/s at its surface.

Solved Examples
Example 1
Determine the escape velocity of the Jupiter if its radius is 7149 Km and mass is 1.898 ×
Kg
Solution:

Given:
Mass M = 1.898 × Kg,
Radius R = 7149 Km
Gravitational Constant G = 6.67408 × 10-11 m3 kg-1 s-2
Escape Velocity is given as
Vesc = √2GM / R
= √2 x 6.67408 × 10-11 x 1.898 × / 7149
= 50.3 km/s

Example 2
Determine the escape velocity of the moon if Mass is 7.35 × 1022 Kg and the radius is 1.5 ×
m.
Solution:

Given
M = 7.35 × 1022 Kg,
R = 1.5 × 106 m
Escape Velocity formula is given by
Vesc = √2GMR
= √2×6.673× ×7.35×1022 / 1.5×
= 7.59 × m/s

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b) Centripetal force
It keeps a body moving in a circle and is always directed towards the centre. It is required to
produce continuous change of direction of a moving body. It varies according to mass, speed
and path radius, such that; F = mv2/r or F = mωr2

c) Weight
It's the gravitational acceleration acting on a given mass. W = mg; where g = gravitational
acceleration (= 9.81 m/s2). Force of gravity varies from place to place on the earth because of
the shape of the earth and its rotation. Hence weight varies from place to place.

d) Friction
It opposes the relative sliding motion of two surfaces that are in contact with one another. It
enables us to walk and brake our automobiles. The frictional force (Fr) is always proportional
to the normal force (N) acting on the surfaces but is independent of the area of contact and the
relative speed

i.e., Fr =  N
where  is the coefficients of friction

i) Static Friction Force:

Frictional forces are usually in play just before there’s relative motion between any two bodies.

Therefore; Fs = s N,
Where s is the coefficients of static friction

ii) Kinetic or Sliding Friction Force:

This force is less than static friction. It is the resistance to motion between two bodies that have
constant relative motion.

Hence; Fk = k N,
where k is the coefficients of kinetic friction

e) Electromagnetic forces:
It is about 1014 times the force of gravity. It is the force of attraction or repulsion between
electric charges e.g. protons and electrons and allows molecules to form. It is responsible for
intermolecular forces.

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 7.2 NEWTONS LAWS OF MOTION
7.2.1 introduction
The net force on a body is the vector sum of all forces acting on the body. The net/ resultant force is as
a result of unbalanced forces. The velocity of an object can change when acted upon by one or more
forces. The direction of force is the direction of the acceleration it causes.
-Newton’s laws of motion imply the relationship between an object’s motion and the forces acting on
it.

7.2.2 Newton’s First Law of Motion

-Newton’s 1st law states that If no net/resultant force the body remains in a state of rest or uniform
motion.
-The law implies that things cannot start, stop, or change direction all by themselves, and it requires
some force from the outside to cause such a change. This property of massive bodies to resist changes
in their state of motion is called inertia. The first law of motion is also known as the law of inertia.
-The crucial point here is that if there is no net force resulting from unbalanced forces acting on an
object, the object will maintain a constant velocity. I.e/ If that velocity is zero, then the object remains
at rest. And if an additional external force is applied, the velocity will change because of the force.

7.2.3 Newton’s Second Law of Motion

Mass – the mass of a body is the characteristic of that body that relates the body’s acceleration to the
net force causing the acceleration. Mass is a scalar quantity.
Newton’s 2nd law states that the acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly
proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force.
Newton’s second law describes precisely how much an object will accelerate for a given net force.
Mathematically, we express the second law of motion as follows;
Fnet = kma
In the equation, k is the constant of proportionality, and it is equal to 1 when the values are taken in the
SI unit. Hence, the final expression will be;
F= ma………………….. Newtons second law.
Acceleration in x direction is caused by all net forces in x- direction
Example
Fnet x = max, Fnet y = may, Fnet z = maz,

Alternatively;
Fnet = rate of change of momentum
F = mv – mu
t
where; mv = final momentum, mu the initial momentum.
m is mass of the object, u is initial velocity, v is final velocity.

7.2.4 Newton’s Third Law of Motion

-Newton’s third law of motion describes what happens to the body when it exerts a force on another
body.
-It states that there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action.
-When two bodies interact, they apply forces on each other that are equal in magnitude and opposite in
direction.

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- For example, consider a book resting on a table. The book applies a downward force equal to its weight
on the table. According to the third law of motion, the table applies an equal and opposite force to the
book.

7.2.5 Numericals
1. Suppose a bike with a rider on it having a total mass of 63 kg brakes and reduces its velocity from
8.5 m/s to 0 m/s in 3.0 seconds. What is the magnitude of the braking force?

2. Under a driving force of 4000N a car of mass 1250 kg has an acceleration of 2.5 m/s2. Find the
frictional force acting on the car.

3. A force of 6N acts on a 2kg trolley and accelerates at 2 m/s2. Calculate the retarding force acting on
the trolley.

4. A bus of mass 2500kg initially moving at 20m/s is brought to rest over a distance of 20m. Determine
the force required to achieve this.

7.3 MOMENTUM AND COLLISIONS

7.3.1 Momentum and impulse
Momentum is a product of mass and velocity.
P = mv
Momentum is a vector that points in the same direction as an object's velocity.
Momentum is proportional to mass and velocity i.e/The more massive an object is, the more momentum
it has and the faster an object moves the more momentum it has.
Objects with a large amount of momentum are hard to stop, i.e. a larger force is required to stop an
object with lots of momentum.
The unit of momentum is kilogram meter per second (kg m/s).
The momentum is related to the kinetic energy of an object,
KE = 1 mv2 = (mv)2 = p2
2 2m 2m

7.3.2 Newtons second law in terms of momentum

The concept of momentum is closely tied to the idea of inertia and force. A force is required to change
the momentum of an object. We can actually restate Newton's second law in terms of momentum;
Fnet = ma = m ∆v = ∆ p
∆ t ∆t
Therefore, the net force is equal to the change in momentum over some time.
We call the change in momentum of an object the impulse,
I = ∆p = Fnet ∆t

This is called the impulse-momentum theorem.

Most forces vary over time, making it difficult to use the idea of impulse without calculus. We can,
however, replace a time-varying force with an average force which is a constant force that delivers the
same impulse in the time t as the real time-varying force. In this case,
∆p = Fav ∆t

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Example:
In a crash test, a car of mass 1.50 x103 kg collides with a wall and rebounds. The initial and final
velocities are vi = - 15.0 m/s and vf = 2.60 m/s. If the collision lasts for 0.150 s,
find
(a)the impulse delivered to the car due to the collision
(b) the size and direction of the average force exerted on the car.

Solution:
The impulse is the change in momentum,
I = pf - pi
I = m (vf - vi)
I = (1.50 x103 kg) (2.60 m/s - (-15.0 m/s))
I = 2.64 x104 kg m/s

We know that the impulse is related to the average force,

Fav = I
t
Fav =2.64 x 104 kg m/s
0.150 s
Fav = 1.76 x 105 N , in the direction of the car after collision.

7.4 CONSERVATION OF MOMENTUM

The law of conservation of momentum states that the total momentum of an isolated system is
conserved in absence of external Forces.
Suppose a particle with mass m1 is travelling with velocity u1 towards a particle with mass m2 which is
travelling towards the first particle with velocity u2. These two particles will eventually collide. After
they collide, the first particle moves away from the second with a velocity v1 and the second particle
moves away with velocity v2 .
While they are colliding, there will be a contact force between them.

The force from particle 2 on particle 1 will change the momentum of particle 1,
F21t = m1 v1 - m1 u1
and similarly, the force from particle 1 on particle 2 will change the momentum of particle 2,
F12 t = m2 v2 - m2 u2

By Newton's third law, we know that the contact forces are an action/reaction pair and so they must be
equal in magnitude and opposite in direction,)
F21t = -F12t

m1 v1 - m1 u1= - (m2 v2 - m2 u2)

m1 u1 + m2 u2 = m1 v1 + m2v2

This equation tells us that if we add the momenta of the particles before the collision, that will be the
same as the sum of all momenta after the collision.

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7.5 TYPES OF COLLISIONS
While momentum is conserved during a collision, kinetic energy is not necessarily conserved.
Total energy is always conserved, but certain types of energy, like kinetic energy are not always
conserved. During a collision, energy is often lost to friction, sound, heat or deformation of the objects.
We can classify collisions into several different types:
i. Elastic collision: An elastic collision is a collision in which both momentum and kinetic energy are
conserved.
ii. Inelastic collision: An inelastic collision is a collision in which momentum is conserved, but kinetic
energy is not.

NUMERICALS
1.A mini bus of mass 2500 kg traveling at a speed of 40m/s collides head on with a lorry of mass
3500kg moving at a speed of 20m/s. The two vehicles separate on collision and the lorry moves with
a speed of 1.2m/s in its initial direction of motion. Calculate the speed of the mini bus after collision

[Link] trolleys of masses 2kg and 1.5kg are traveling towards each other at 0.25m/s and 0.4m/s
respectively. Two trolleys combine on collision.
i. Calculate the velocity of the combined trolleys.
ii. In what direction do the trolleys move after collision?

3.A truck of mass 5000 kg and traveling at 5 ms-1 collides and couples with a stationary truck. They
travel off together at 0.5 ms-
a) Determine the mass of the stationary truck
b) Determine the of impulse on the 5000kg truck

WORKED EXAMPLES APPLYING NEWTON’S SECOND LAW

1. Consider a block of mass m1 resting on a flat rough surface of coefficient of friction  Mass
m2, is connected to mass m1 by means of a massless and inextensible cord over a frictionless
pulley. Show that the acceleration of the masses is given by:
 m  m1 
a   2  g
 1
m  m 2 

Solution
To find the acceleration a and Tension T, in the string, consider forces on an individual block.
T = Constant.

For mass1 (m1);

R – m1g =0 and T = m1a.
For mass2 (m2),
m2a is downward and T - m2g = - m2a.

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From the above equations we can calculate the values of the acceleration and tension.
T = -m2a + m2g = m1a
or a (m1 + m2) = m2g,
Therefore;

If friction between m1 and the surface is present, then the force acting on m1 will be; −μR ,
where, μR = μm1 g is the frictional force. Therefore;

For m1 , T − μR = m1a and T = 𝛍𝐦𝟏 𝐠 + 𝐦𝟏 𝐚

For m2 ,
T = -m2a + m2g

μm1 g + m1 𝐚 − m2 𝐠 = −m2 𝐚
μm1 g − m2 𝐠 = −m2 𝐚 − m1 𝐚

(𝐦𝟐 − 𝛍𝐦𝟏 )𝐠
𝐚=
(𝐦𝟐 + 𝐦𝟏 )

2. Two masses of 0.5 and 0.25Kg are connected by a light inextensible string, which passes
over a smooth pulley. If the system is released from rest with the string taut, find the
acceleration of each mass.

Solution
Let T be the tension in the string and a magnitude of acceleration of each mass.

Resultant force = mass x acceleration (ma)

m1 =0.25g, m2=0.5g
Forces acting on m1 are T & m1g. Since m1 is moving upwards, T > m1g, and m1a =
T-m1g

Forces acting on m2 are T & m2g. Since m2 is moving downward, m2a = m2g-T
For m1, T- 0.25g = 0.25a. ………………….. (1)
For m2, 0.5g -T = 0.5a………………………..(2)

Adding equations (1) and (2) gives

0.25g = 0.75a, ⇒ a = g/3. Hence a = 3.27 ms-2.

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