Week

1 & 2
Topic: Forces , Friction & Gravitational Pull and
Weightlessness

Introduction

In everyday language, force suggests the use of compulsion or strength. If your parents forced you to
wash your school dress after school on a Wednesday.. it means that they compelled you to do it.

Concept of Force

A force is a thing that,

1. changes the shape of a body

2. makes a body at rest move

3. changes the speed of a moving body

4. causes a moving body to change direction

5. causes a moving body to stop

Altogether , force is defined as that which changes the shape, speed or direction of a moving body.

Types of Forces

1. Contact force

2. Magnetic force

3. Electrical force

4. Gravitational force

5. Frictional force

6. Forces occur in Pairs

A British scientist, Sir Isaac Newton stated three laws of motion. The first of these is that to every
action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Three simple illustrations will be given:

When you push down on a spring mattress, you apply force. The spring mattress reduces in size. As soon
as you let go the force you apply, the spring mattress bounces back to its normal size. This is because as
you apply force to push the mattress down, the mattress is pushing back at you.

When you pull a rubber band to stretch it, the rubber band is pushing back at you. As soon as you leave
the rubber band, it contracts to its normal state.

A canoe paddler dips the paddle into the water and moves the paddle backways. As this is done, the
water pushes the canoe forward with an equal and opposite force.

Contact Force

A contact force is a force applied directly to an object. It may involve pushing or pulling. Other examples
of the use of contact force are

1. Stretching the sling of a catapult

2. Twisting (wringing) a washed cloth to remove water from it

3. Squeezing a ball of clay and moulding it into shape

4. Bending an iron rod

Magnetic Force

Two ends of a bar magnet attract each other, while two ends repel each other. Like poles repel each
other while unlike poles attract each other. Also, a magnet can attract iron fillings when it comes in
contact with it. This shows that magnetic force acts over an area around the magnet. For this reason, a
magnetic force is called a Field Force which acts over an area or force field.

Magnetism is a Non- contact force, magnetism is invisible to the human eye and it can be made with
useful tools and machines. In the 1700s scientists discovered that magnetism has similar features as
electricity. Magnetism is not attracted to silver, gold, platinum and aluminium.

Gravity

Gravity is another non-contact force. Gravity is the force that pulls you down and allows you to stay on
earth instead of floating off. Gravity means what comes up must come down. Gravity is keeping us in
orbit, because the suns gravitational pull keeps our planet in orbit. The moon is affected by the suns
gravity and the earths’ gravity. The moons gravity is the reason why our tides go up and down. Weight
effects gravity for example if you drop an acorn it will fall slower than a piano because the piano is
heavier than the acorn. Sir Isaac newton was the person that discovered gravity but he didn’t know how
to explain it. Then Albert Einstein came along and explained how gravity works.

Frictional Force

Friction is another contact force. It can be helpful and it allows you to let you walk without sliding. The
heavier an object is the more friction it has. Friction can be destructive for example if you rub out the
mistakes you made, the rubber become smaller and smaller. There are 4 types of friction sliding friction,
static friction, rolling friction and fluid friction. Sliding friction is produced when the bumps on the
surface stick together, sliding friction can also slow down objects. Sliding friction occurs when two
objects slide past each other.

Advantages of Friction

1. Friction makes movement possible. If friction is totally absent, we will slip, as is sometimes the
case on a polished floor.

2. We can not fix nail in the wood or wall if there is no friction. It is friction which holds the nail.

3. A horse can not pull a cart unless friction furnishes him a secure Foothold.

4. It becomes possible to transfer one form of energy to another.

5. Objects can be piled up without slipping.

6. Brakes of vehicles work due to friction.

Disadvantages of Friction

1. Friction creates more work for moving machines which therefore consumes more fuel on rough
than on smooth surfaces

2. Friction increases wear and tear

3. Friction makes us spend money on Lubrication

4. It always resists the motion, so extra energy is required to overcome it.

5. It decreases the life expectancy of moving parts of vehicles.

Methods of increasing friction:

In many cases, friction is very useful. So, enough friction is required and hence become necessary to
increase the friction. Some of the common methods of increasing friction are:

1. Spreading sand in slippery roads.

2. Making rough shoe soles.

3. Making surface of footpath rough.

4. Fitting spikes in sport shoes.

In many cases, friction is very harmful. So, friction needs to be reduced. Some og the ways of reducing
frictions are:

1. Polishing or smoothing the surfaces.

2. By the use of lubricants which increases the smoothness of the surface.

3. Giving streamlines shape to submarines, jets etc

4. By using ball bearing in wheels.

Topic: Gravitational Field

Introduction

gravitational

This is a force with which the earth attracts objects towards its centre. If you throw a coin up, what
do you expect? You will notice that the coin will go up and at a certain point stop before beginning
to come down. Is there anything pulling the coin down? Yes, although you may not see anything
pulling it. The force due to gravity, is pulling the coin to the centre of the earth.

Assuming you are holding a mass of 20g in your hand. Climb a tree or a high object. Release the
mass, what do you notice? You will notice that the weight did not go horizontally but vertically.

There is a force acting on that mass downwards. That is to say there is a force attracting the mass to
the centre of the earth. If two objects of the same density are released from a height at the same
time, do you think they will fall at the same time? What happens if they have different densities like
a coin and a feather? Two objects of the same density will fall at the same time while two objects of
varying densities like a coin and a feather will not fall at the same time. The coin will fall faster than
the feather. This is so because of air resistance on the feather. If air is removed and we now have a
vacuum, the two objects of varying densities will fall at the same time.


Calculation of Gravitational Force

Imagine an object of mass M kilogrammes raised from the ground level to a height h metres above
the ground

The force of gravity on the mass = mg

Where g is the acceleration due to gravity in metres per second squared (ms-2)

The workdone against gravity in raising the mass is

= Force x distance moved

= mg x h

= mgh

If M is in kilogrammes, g in ms-2 and h in metres

Then force = mg in Newtons

Workdone = mgh in joules

Example 1:

Calculate the gravitational force on a mass of kilogrammes if the acceleration due to free fall under
gravity is 10 ms-2.

Solution:

Force on mass = mg = (2 x 10) N

= 20N

Example 2:
Find the workdone on a mass of 2kg if it is raised up to a height of 10m.

Solution:

Mass lifted = 2kg

Acceleration due to gravity = 10 ms-2

Height raised = 10m

Workdone = mgh

2 x 10 x 10

200 J

Therefore, work done on mass is 200 Joules

Topic: Gravitation and Weightlessness

Introduction

Gravitation is a science concept that lead had been known and understood from Newton’s time. It
was he who propounded the laws of universal gravitation from mathematical theory. Since that
time, the theory has been used by other scientists in computing various constants and quantities
that relate to objects on earth and in space. Gravitational pull is a force of attraction which everbody
exerts on every otherbody. The earth has a large gravitational pull on objects because of its large
size.

Meaning of Gravitation

There is a force which pulls things thrown upward towards the earth. This force is called gravitation.

The scientist discovered the existence of this force was Isaac Newton. He said that the force of
gravity or gravitational force exists between all bodies. Thus, any two masses which are separated
by a distance have a force of attraction called gravitation existing between them. Gravitational force
is that force which pulls us towards the earth. It is this force that gives all objects their weight. The
weight of an object is the force with which the earth pulls the object.

Weightlessness

When an object moves round a circle at high speed, a force called centripetal force acts on it. This
force is one that makes a body moving with constant speed to remain in its circular motion. It is
always directed towards the centre of the circle.
 The total gravitational force on a body is composed of two forces for an object moving in a circle.
The first component is its weight, while the other is the centripetal force. If the speed is very high,
the centripetal force may be nearly equal to the weight. When this happens, the moving body
experiences weightlessness.

Weightlessness is a condition that occurs in objects in fast circular motion when the centripetal
force is equal to the weight of the object. In this condition, the two forces are equal and opposite.

Effects of Gravitation on Objects

1. Gravity causes objects to move e.g. a falling fruit from the top of a tree

2. Gravity provides an objects revolving in a circular motion with centripetal force especially
large objects in space such as the moon

3. Balance of planets in our solar system – The sun and all the planets in our solar system
exercise gravitational pull on one another and mutually balance one another in space.

4. Work is done every time we lift an object from the earth. Lifting an object involves opposing
gravitational pull.