Physics

Topic 5-Forces
Contact and non-contact forces
Force is a vector quantity (magnitude and direction)
A force is a push or a pull on an object that is caused by it interacting with something
Contact Forces Non-Contact Forces
Air resistance Electrostatic force
Friction Magnetic force
Normal contact force Gravitational force

Gravity/Weight
Gravitation force is the force of attraction between masses
Weight is the force acting on object due to gravity
Weight(N)= Mass (Kg) x Gravitational Field Strength (N/kg)
W=mg
Earth gravitational field strength is 9.8 N/kg
Centre of mass is where the weight of an object is considered to act on a single object
Resultant forces/ Work done
Free body diagrams show all force acting on an object
Size of arrow show magnitude of force
A resultant force is the overall force on a point of object
When a force moves an object through a distance, energy is transferred and work is done on the
object
Work done (J)= Force (N)x Distance (m)
W=Fs
One joule of work is done when a force of one newton causes an object to move a distance of one
meter
Object is in equilibrium if the forces are balance

Forces and Elasticity

Applying force can either stretch, compress or bend an object.
You need more than one force otherwise object would simply move in direction of applied force
Elastic deformation- if it can go back to its original shape and legnth
Objects that can be elastically deformed are elastic objects
Inelastic deformation- if it doesn't return to its original shape and length

Extension
Extension of a stretched spring is directly proportional to load, or force allied
Equation also works for compression where e is just difference between natural and compressed
length
Investigating Springs-RP

Set up aparatus
1. Calculate weight of masses
2. Measure the natural length of spring when no load is applied with a ruler. Take reading at eye level
and add a marker to bottom of spring to ensure accuracy
3. Add mass to spring and allow spring to rest.
4. Record new length of spring
5. Extension is changed in lengths
6. Repeat process with different number of masses
7. Plot data on force-extension graph. It will only start to curve if you exceed limit of proportionality
Working out energy stored

Energy in the elastic potential energy store of a stretched spring is equal to area under a force-
extension graph

Moments
A moment is the turning effect of a force
A force can cause an object to rotate
If anticlockwise moment is equal to total of clockwise moment about a pivot, the object is balanced
and won't turn

Levers
Levers make it easier to do work
Levers increase the distance from the pivot at which the force is applied. This means that less force is
needed to get the same moment
Easier to do work
Gears
Gears transmit rotational effects
Gears are circular discs with ’teeth’
Teeth interlock so that turning once causes another to turn in opposite direction
Used to transmit rotational effect of a force
Differet sized gears can be used to change moment.
A force transmitted to a larger gear will cause a bigger moment as the distance to pivot is greater
Larger gear will turn slower

Fluid pressure

Density is how close the particles in a substance are

More dense a given liquid is, more particles it has in space so this means there are more particles able
to collide so pressure is higher
As dept of the liquid increases, the number of particles above that point increases. The weight of
particles adds to pressure felt at point so liquid pressure increases with depth

Upthrust
Objects in fluids experience upthrust
Pressure of fluid exerts a force on object in every direction
Pressure increases with depth, so force exerted on bottom of object is larger than force acting on top
of object
Causes resultant force upwards known as upthrust
Upthrust is equal to weight of fluid that has been displaced by object
An object floats if its weight upthrust
If object weight is more than is more than upthrust, object sinks.
This means that whether object floats depend on density
If object is less dense than fluid it is placed in, it weighs less than equivalent volume of fluid. This
means it will displace a volume of fluid equal to its before it is completely submerged so object floats
If object is denser than fluid, it is unable to displace enough fluid equal to its weight. Its weight is
always larger than upthrust, so it sinks.

Atmospheric pressure
Atmosphere is a thin layer of air round the Earth
Atmoshperic pressure is created on a surface by air molecules colliding with surface
As altitude increases, atmospheric pressure decreases
This is because atmosphere gets less dense so there is fewer air molecules that are able to collide
with the surface
There are also fewer air molecules above surface. Weight of air above it, contribute to atmospheric
pressure therefore decreases with altitude
Scalar and vector quantities
Distance is scalar, displacement is vector
Distance is how far an object has moved whereas displacement the direction and distance in a
straight light from an object’s starting point to finishing pont
Speed is how fast you're going with no regard to direction whereas velocity is a speed in a given
direction

An object in a circle at a constant speed has a constantly changing velocity as the direction is always
changing
Typical speeds
Walking- 1.5m/s
Running- 3m/s
Cycling 6m/s
Car- 25m/s
Train - 55m/s
Plane- 250m/s
Speed of sound- 330m/s
Speed of humans depends on age, fitness
Speed of vehicles depends on terrain
Speed of sound depends on what waves travelling on
Seed of win depends on temperature, atmospheric pressure and obstacles
Acceleration
Acceleration is how quickly you are speeding up

Deceleration is negative acceleration

Uniform acceleration is constant acceleration
Acceleartion due to gravity is uniform for objects in free fall

Distance Time Graph

Gadient=speed
Flat sections are stationary- it stopped
Straight uphill means travelling at steady speed
Curves represent acceleration and deceleration
Steepening curve means accelerating
Levelling off curve means deceleration
Can find speed at point by finding gradient of tangent on curve to point
Velocity-Time graph
Gradient=acceleration
Flat sections represent steady speed
Steeper graph, the greater the acceleration or deceleration
Uphill sections are acceleration and downhill sections are deceleration
A curve means changing acceleration
Can use tangent to work out acceleration at point of curve
Area under any section of graph is equal to distance travelled
Drag
Friction always acts in opposite direction to movement
To drive at steady speed, driving force needs to be balanced to frictional force
Drag is resistance you get in a fluid
To reduce drag is to keep objects streamlined so object is designed to allow fluid to flow easily across
it
Parachutes work in opposite way as they want as much drag as they can get
Drag increases as speed increases
Terminal velocity
1. Object first sets off; force of gravity is much more than frictional force, so they accelerate
2. Speed increases so friction builds up
3. Buildup of friction reduces acceleration until eventually the frictional force is equal to acceleration
force, so the resultant force is zero
4. It will have reached maximum speed or terminal velocity and will fall at steady speed
Acceleration force acting on all falling objects is gravity, and it would make them fall at same rate if it
wasn't for air resistance
Air resistance on Earth causes things to fall at different speeds and the terminal velocity of any object
is determined by its drag in comparison to its weight
E.g skydiver will have small area without parachute and weight pulling him down
But with parachute open, there is much more air resistance and only same force (weight) pulling him
down
Newton’s first law
If the resultant force on a stationary object is zero, the object will remain stationary.
If the resultant force on a moving object is zero it will just carry on moving at the same velocity
Newton’s second law
The acceleration of an object is proportional to the resultant force acting on the object and inversely
proportional to the mass of the object

Newton’s third law

When two objects interact, the forces they exert on each other are equal and opposite

Inertia
Inertia is the tendency for motion to remain unchanged
An object’s inertial mass measures how difficult it is to change velocity of an object
Intertial mass is ratio of force over acceleration (SECOND LAW)

Investigating Motion (2ND LAW)-RP

1. Set up apparatus. Set up trolley with piece of card with gap in middle so it will interrupt signal of
light gate twice. If measure length of each bit of card that will pass through light gate and input this
into software, light gate can measure velocity for each bit of card. Can work out acceleration
2. Connect trolly to a piece of string that is connected on other side to hook and masses
3. Weight of hook and masses provides accelerating force equal to mass x acceleration due to gravity
4. Weight of hook and masses accelerate both trolley and masses so you can investigate acceleration
5. Mark starting line of table trolley is on, so trolley always travel same distance to light gate
6. Place trolley on starting line and make sure string is taut and release trolley
7. Record acceleration measured by light gate as trolley passes through
8. Repeat few more times for average

Results
To investigate effect of mass, add mass to trolley, one at time to increase mass of system
Record average acceleration for each mass
By adding mass to trolley, mass of whole system increases but as force applied stays same. This will
lead to decrease in acceleration
To investigate effect of force, you need to keep mass the same but change mass on hook. To do this,
start will all mass on trolley and transfer mass to hook one at time, to increase accelerating force
Mass of system always stay same as you’re only transferring the mass from one part to another
Record average acceleration for each force
By transferring mass to hook, you are increasing acceleration force without changing mass. So
increasing force should lead to an increase accleartion

Stopping distance
Stopping distance=Thinking distance+ Braking distance
Thinking distance is how far car travels during the driver’s reaction time
The braking distance is the distance taken to stop under braking force
Factors affecting thinking distance Factors affecting braking distance
Speed- faster you are going further you will Speed- higher speed=more braking force so it
travel during time you take to react takes longer to stop
Reaction time Weather- if wet or icy, less grip causing skidding
Tiredness Condition of tires- if tires of vehicles are bald,
they cannot get rid of water in wet conditions
leading to more skidding
Drug/alcohol Brakes- if brakes are worn or faulty, they will not
apply as much force
Distractions

Reaction time (More on Biology-T5)

Typical value range of person reaction time is 0.2s-0.9s
Can use computer based-test
Ruler test:
1. Person A’s arm resting on edge of table. Person B holds ruler, so it hangs between your thumb and
forefinger lined up with zero
2. Without any warming, Person B drop ruler. Person A try hold by closing thumb and catching ruler
3. Measure how far ruler dropped. Longer distance=longer reaction time
4. Can use acceleration formula to work out reaction time
5. Hard to do experiment accurately so lots of repeat for average
6. Can add clay at bottom of ruler to prevent ruler braking on impact with ground
7. Can add distractions and compare

Braking distance
1. When brake is pushed, this causes brake pads to be pressed onto wheels causing friction and work
done
2. Work done between brakes and wheel transfer energy from kinetic stores to thermal stores of
brake so brake increase in temperature
3. Fater a vehicle is going, more energy so more work needs to be done
4. Larger braking fore means larger decelerations, which may be dangerous as it may cause
overheating or skidding
Speed on Stopping distance
As car speeds up, thinking distance increases at same rate as speed so graph is linear
As car speed up, braking distance increases faster more than speed as work done to stop car is equal
to energy in car’s kinetic energy store
So as speed doubles, kinetic energy increases 4-fold
Stopping distance is combination of these 2 so graph of speed against stopping distance looks like:

Momentum
Momentum is vector quanitiy

In a closed system, total momentum before an event is equal to total momentum after
Safety mechanisms(2nd equation)
Smaller force means injuries are likely to be less severe
Cars have:
Crumple zones crumple on impact, increasing time taken for car to stop
Seat belts stretch slightly, increasing time taken for wearer to stop
Air bags inflate before you hit dashboard of card- slows you down more gradually than if you had just
hit dashboard
Helmets contain crushable layer of foam which lengthen time taken for your head to stop in a crash-
reducing impact
Crash mats and cushioned playground flooring increase time taken for you to fall on them because of
the soft, compressible materials