Physics for Engineers – Physics for Engineers

Newton’s Laws of
Motion and its
Applications
Fedil G. Sanico II
Instructor

Department of Physics
College of Science and Mathematics
University of Science and Technology of Southern Philippines - CDO
Kinematics vs Dynamics
Kinematics – describe the motion of an object by answering the questions:
✓ When?
✓ Where?
✓ How fast?
✓ How far?
✓ How long?

Dynamics – describing the motion of an object by answering the questions:

✓ Why is the object moving in a certain way?
✓ What causes the object to change its velocity?
❖ It studies the causes of changes in the motion of object.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 2

Force and Interactions
Why does an object moves? What causes a body
to move?
❖ Because of the FORCE that acts on the object.
Force – interaction (push or pull) of one object to
another object or to its environment
✓ It is a vector quantity (magnitude and direction).
It measured in terms of newton (N).
❖ If two or more forces are acting on the object,
then the total force is
𝒏

𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = ෍ 𝑭𝒊 = 𝑭𝟏 + 𝑭𝟐 + ⋯ + 𝑭𝒏
𝒊=𝟏
❖ The net force can also be expressed in terms of
its components
𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = 𝑭𝒙 + 𝑭𝒚 + 𝑭𝒛

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 3

Classification of Forces
The force acting on an object can be classified as:
i. Contact forces – forces resulting from physical contact between two objects.
ii. Field forces – long range forces applied to an object by another object that is
not in direct contact with each other. Also known as “action at a distance”.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 4

Kinds of Forces
Gravitational force
(weight)
Normal force
supporting force on any object
which is perpendicular to the
surface of contact

Friction force
the opposing force
exerted parallel to the
surface of contact. It is
always resistive to motion
pull of gravity on any object

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 5

Mass vs. Weight
❖ Mass is the measure of amount of inertia. Mass is measured in
kilograms (kg)
❖ Weight is the pull of earth’s gravity on any object with mass.
Weight is a gravitational force, so it is measured in newton (N).
This is the force that makes the body accelerate downward.
✓ The magnitude of weight is
𝑾 = 𝒎𝒈

𝑾 = 𝒎𝒈

𝑾 = 𝒎𝒈
𝑾 = 𝒎𝒈

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 6

Frictional Force f
Static Friction – frictional force that Kinetic Friction – frictional force
keeps the object from moving. acting on the object when it is in
motion.

𝒗=𝟎 𝒗
𝑭 𝑭
m m
𝒇𝒔 𝒇𝒌
The object does not move even The object is in motion but there is
there is a force applied to it since an opposing force which is less
the frictional force is much greater. than the applied force.

𝒇𝒔 ≤ 𝝁𝒔 𝜼 𝒇𝒌 = 𝝁𝒌 𝜼
❖ 𝜇𝑠 is the coefficient of static ❖ 𝜇𝑘 is the coefficient of kinetic
friction friction

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 7

Kinds of Forces

Tension force
Centripetal force

force acting on any object

moving in a circle or curve.

the force which is transmitted

through a rope, string or cable
when it is pulled tight by force
acting from opposite ends.

Buoyant force
upward force exerted by a
fluid that opposes the weight
of an immersed object.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 8

Tension Force T
❖ A rope (cord, cable, string, etc. .) exerts forces on whatever holds its ends.
❖ The tension force is always directed along the length of the cord and away
from the object.

𝑭𝟏𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

𝑭𝟐𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

𝑭𝟏𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆 = 𝑻 = 𝑭𝟐𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 9

Centripetal Force Fc
The radial or centripetal acceleration of
any object moving in a circle is cause by 𝒗
the centripetal force FC which is directed
towards the center of the circular motion, 𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒅
then 𝑭𝒄
𝑭𝒄 = 𝒎𝒂𝒓𝒂𝒅
❖ Since the radial acceleration is given by 𝑹
𝑣2
𝑎𝑟𝑎𝑑 =
𝑅
Then
𝒗𝟐
𝑭𝒄 = 𝒎
𝑹
❖ The centripetal force is parallel to the
radial acceleration

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 10

Free Body Diagrams (FBD)
Free-body diagram is a diagram showing all the forces acting on a body.
❖ With FBD, the forces acting on a body can be resolve into components.
❖ A FBD must be applied to one object only. A different FBD must be also be
shown for a different body.
❖ The x- and y- axis of FBD can be rotated for convenience (inclined plane).
y y
𝜼 𝜼 𝒂 𝜼
𝒇
𝑭
m x 𝒇 m 𝑭 x

𝑾 𝑾 𝑾
Object in Equilibrium Accelerating Object Accelerating Object
Condition Down an Incline
PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 11
Newton’s Law of Motion

Newton’s Laws of Motion:

Law of Inertia
Galileo Galilei Law of Acceleration
Law of Interaction
Sir Isaac Newton

✓ It is a fundamental law used to understand the most familiar kinds of

motion.
✓ It is deduced from multiple experiments performed by other scientist.
✓ It is only applicable to Classical Mechanics.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 12

Newton’s 1st Law of Motion

Newton’s 1st Law of Motion: Law of Inertia

“An object at rest will remain at rest and an object in
motion will stay in motion with constant velocity unless
a net external force acts on it.”

✓ An object at rest remains at rest as long as no net force acts on it.

✓ An object moving with constant velocity continues to move with the same
speed and in the same direction as long as no net force acts on it.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 13

Mass and Inertia
❖ Every object continues in its state of rest, or in uniform motion unless a net
force (unbalanced) impressed upon it.

o Inertia is a property of objects to resist changes in its motion.

o Mass is the measure of amount of inertia. Mass is measured in kilograms (kg).

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 14

Object in Equilibrium
Newton’s 1st Law can be applied for objects in equilibrium.
❖ The net external force is zero, 𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = 𝟎, the vector sum of forces is also
zero
𝟎 = 𝑭 𝟏 + 𝑭 𝟐 + ⋯ + 𝑭𝒏
This means that all the acting forces are balanced. If the forces are balanced,
the object is said to be in equilibrium condition and has zero acceleration
✓ Object at rest: 𝒗 = 𝟎 and 𝒂 = 𝟎
✓ Object in motion: 𝒗 ≠ 𝟎 (constant) and 𝒂 = 𝟎
As such, the components of the net force is also zero
Equilibrium Condition
𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = 𝟎

෍ 𝑭𝒙 = 𝟎 ෍ 𝑭𝒚 = 𝟎 ෍ 𝑭𝒛 = 𝟎

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 15

Normal Force 𝜼
❖ Normal force on an object on a ❖ Normal force on an object on an
level surface: inclined surface:
y
𝜼 𝜼
m x
𝜽
𝑾 𝑾
෍ 𝐹𝑦 = 𝜂 − 𝑊 ෍ 𝐹𝑦 = 𝜂 − 𝑊𝑦

0=𝜂−𝑊 0 = 𝜂 − 𝑊𝑦
𝜂=𝑊 𝜂 = 𝑊𝑦
𝜼 = 𝒎𝒈 𝜼 = 𝒎𝒈 𝐜𝐨𝐬 𝜽

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 16

Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion

Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion: Law of Acceleration

“When a net external force 𝑭𝑛𝑒𝑡 acts on an object with
mass m, the object accelerates in the direction of the
net force.”

𝑭
𝒂

❖ Force is the product of mass and acceleration:

𝒏
𝒂
𝑭 𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = ෍ 𝑭𝒊 = 𝒎𝒂
𝒊=𝟏
❖ The greater the mass, the greater the force to cause a given acceleration.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 17

Dynamics of Object
Newton’s 2nd Law can be applied to dynamics problems (bodies are not in
equilibrium and hence there is acceleration).
❖ Since there is a net external force acting on the object, then the object is
accelerating:
𝒏

𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = ෍ 𝑭𝒊 = 𝒎𝒂
𝒊=𝟏
❖ where 𝟏 𝐍 = 𝟏 𝐤𝐠 ⋅ 𝐦 Τ𝐬𝟐
Then the components of the net force
Dynamics of Accelerating Bodies

෍ 𝑭𝒙 = 𝒎𝒂𝒙 ෍ 𝑭𝒚 = 𝒎𝒂𝒚 ෍ 𝑭𝒛 = 𝒎𝒂𝒛

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 18

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion: Law of Interaction

“For every action, there is always an equal and
opposite reaction.”

❖ The two forces acts on different bodies. Equal in magnitude but in

opposite directions:
𝑭𝐀𝐨𝐧𝐁 = −𝑭𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐀
PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 19
Problem-solving Strategy
1. Understand and visualize the situation of the problem.
2. Consider one body at a time. Using FBD, show all the forces acting on that
body, including any unknown forces that must be solve for.

3. If several bodies are involved, draw a FBD for each body separately.
4. Resolve the force vectors into components.
5. Apply Newton’s Laws of Motion to each component of separately.

𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = 𝟎 𝑭𝐧𝐞𝐭 = 𝒎𝒂 𝑭𝐀𝐨𝐧𝐁 = −𝑭𝐁𝐨𝐧𝐀

6. Solve for the unknowns.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 20

Level Curve Roads
The motion of the car
navigating in a curved path is
caused by the centripetal force
that pulls the car towards the
center.
❖ The centripetal force is
equal to the static friction
between the tires and the
road.
❖ The equation for vmax gives
the maximum speed a
vehicle can make a turn
through a curve road
without sliding off.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 21

Level Curve Road
❖ If the road is a smooth
surface (wet), the static
friction decreases, there’s a
possibility of skidding off
the road, and hence
accident.
❖ Or if the speed of the
vehicle exceeds the speed
limit of the curve, there’s a
possibility of skidding off
and accident.
❖ As such, in most highways
curved roads/path are
banked (inclined) at some
angle.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 22

Banked Curve Roads
A vehicle can navigate through a
slippery (wet) curve without
skidding off, as long as its speed
matches the inclination angle of
the banked curve.
❖ Without friction, the
centripetal force is equal to
the x-component of the
normal force.
❖ In the presence of friction,
the vehicle can travel at a
higher speed than the speed
in a level curve of the same
radius.

PHYS120 | PHYS101 – Physics for Engineers, Lecture by Fedil G. Sanico II slide 23

Thank you for listening.
Any questions?