Moving Through Fluids

• Definition of Drag: Air or fluid resistance is a type of frictional force that opposes the motion
of objects moving through a fluid (liquid or gas).

• Factors Affecting Drag:

o Surface Area: Objects with a larger surface area experience more drag.

o Speed: The faster an object moves, the greater the air resistance encountered.

• Minimizing Drag:

o To move efficiently through fluids, people and objects reduce drag by changing their
shape.

o Streamlining is the process of shaping an object so that air flows smoothly around it.

• Real-world Examples:

o Cyclists use a low, bent-over posture to minimize the area facing the wind.

o Swimmers wear tight-fitting clothing and maintain a streamlined body position.

o Dropping a key versus a coin demonstrates how surface area affects falling speed
due to drag.

Contact Forces and Upthrust Notes

Contact Forces

• Definition: These are forces that act when two objects physically touch each other.

• Origin: The forces originate from the slight compression of materials, where atomic
interactions push back against the compression.

• Examples:

o When you stand on the floor, your weight pulls you down (gravity - a non-contact
force), but the floor pushes back up on your feet with an equal and opposite normal
force (a type of contact force).

o Friction and air resistance are also everyday examples of contact forces.

• Newton's Third Law: Contact forces always occur in equal and opposite pairs, as described
by Newton's third law of motion (e.g., foot on floor and floor on foot).

Upthrust (Buoyancy)

• Definition: Upthrust is the upward force exerted by a fluid (liquid or gas) on an object that is
fully or partially submerged in it. It is also known as the buoyant force.

• Cause: Pressure within a fluid increases with depth. The pressure at the bottom of an
immersed object is greater than at the top, resulting in a net upward force (upthrust).
 • Archimedes' Principle: The magnitude of the upthrust is exactly equal to the weight of the
fluid that the object displaces.

• Floating and Sinking:

o An object floats if its total weight is equal to or less than the maximum upthrust
available (i.e., its density is less than or equal to the fluid's density).

o An object sinks if its weight is greater than the upthrust (i.e., its density is greater
than the fluid's density).

• Examples: Upthrust is what keeps boats floating on water and hot air balloons rising in the
air.

Newton's Third Law of Motion

• Statement: For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

• Action-Reaction Pairs: Forces always occur in pairs, with one object exerting a force on
another, and the second object exerting an equal and opposite force back on the first. These
forces are equal in magnitude, opposite in direction, act on different objects, and occur
simultaneously. Because they act on different objects, they do not cancel each other out.

• Examples in Daily Life: This law can be seen in everyday activities like walking (foot pushes
ground back, ground pushes foot forward), swimming (swimmer pushes water back, water
pushes swimmer forward), and sitting (body pushes on chair, chair pushes on body). It also
applies to rocket propulsion (rocket expels gas down, gas pushes rocket up) and gravity
(Earth pulls you down, you pull Earth up).

Understanding SI Units

• International System of Units (SI): The SI is the modern metric system of measurement used
globally in science, industry, and commerce. It provides a consistent, standardized system
based on highly stable physical constants of nature, such as the speed of light.

Base Units vs. Derived Units

• Base Units (Fundamental Units): These are the building blocks of the SI system. There are
exactly seven fundamental quantities and their corresponding units. They are assumed to be
mutually independent and form the foundation for all other measurements.

• Derived Units: These units are formed by mathematically combining the base units (e.g.,
multiplication, division).
The Seven SI Base Units

Quantity Unit Name Symbol

Length metre m

Mass kilogram Kg

Time second S

Electric current ampere A

Thermodynamic temperature kelvin K

Amount of substance mole mol

Luminous intensity candela Cd

Defining the Metre

• The metre was historically defined in various ways, such as a physical metal bar, but is now
defined based on a universal constant for greater precision and accessibility.

• Current Definition: The metre is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in a
vacuum during a time interval of 1/299 792 458 of a second. This definition fixes the speed
of light in a vacuum at an exact value of

299792458m ⋅ s −1