8 – Free Body Diagrams

8-1. The illustration below shows a car moving at a constant speed along a horizontal,
paved surface. Draw a complete free-body diagram for the car this situation.

8-2. To dive safely, scuba divers must control their rates of descent and ascent
in the water. The diver’s buoyancy will determine whether he will descend or ascend.

Buoyancy is a measure of the weight of the water displaced minus the

weight of the body. If buoyancy is negative, the diver will descend. If buoyancy is
positive, the diver will ascend. If buoyancy is zero the diver will not move vertically.

Diving belt weights can help a scuba diver get negative buoyancy, whereas inflatable
vests and a neoprene diving suit can provide greater positive buoyancy.

Draw a free body diagram representing the forces on a scuba diver

(assume the diver is not swimming, i.e. not moving horizontally).
8-3. A rocket in flight in an atmosphere typically has three forces acting on it:

i) the force of gravity

ii) the thrust of the engines, applied in the direction of motion
iii) the atmospheric drag (a force of friction opposite to the direction of motion

A certain rocket is in flight in an atmosphere at an angle of 15o from the vertical.

Draw a free body diagram representing the forces on the rocket in this situation

15o direction of motion

8-4 Lucinda is mowing her lawn. She pushes on the handle at an angle of 70° to the
ground making the lawnmower move along the lawn against the force of friction.
Draw a free body diagram representing the forces on the lawnmower in this situation
8-5 A downhill skier is traveling straight down a hill, which has an incline of 15°.

15°

Draw a complete free-body diagram showing all of the forces acting on the skier.

SOLUTIONS

8-1

Fnormal

Fapplied
(engine)

Ffriction
(tires / air
resistance)
Fgravitational
8-2

8-3.
8-4

70o

8-5

Original Picture FBD no components FBD with components

15°

Notes

1) It is acceptable to rotate the entire FBD so that the surface of the hill is horizontal
provided that ALL the other elements of the FBD are correspondingly rotated
2) If components are shown for a situation on an incline, they can be either in the horizontal
and vertical ( x and y) directions or parallel and perpendicular ( // and ^ ) to the surface.
Either mode of representation is acceptable.