5 Forces and magnetism

Key words
Applied force: any force that is applied to another object or person (for
example, when you kick a ball, you apply force to the ball)
Attract: to pull something closer
Exert: to apply force in any direction
Force: a push or a pull that tries to change the position or shape of an
object.
Gravity: a pulling force
Normal force: a support force; the force that two surfaces exert that
keeps them touching, but does not let them come apart or press further
together.
Weight: How heavy something is on Earth.
Pull: Using a force to move things closer.
Push: Using a force to move things away.
Fall: To go in a direction towards the ground.
5.1 Gravity normal forces and applied forces
WHAT IS GRAVITY?
Gravity is the invisible force that pulls everything down to the ground
(Earth’s surface).
Everything on Earth is affected by gravity: people, plants, animals and
objects. Without gravity you wouldn’t be able to go down a slide, play
basketball, or skydive.
Isaac Newton is a scientist that studied gravity.

Universal gravitation

• Newton realized that gravity acts everywhere in the universe,

not just on Earth.

• It is the force that makes an apple fall to the ground.

 • It is the force that keeps the moon orbiting around Earth.

• It is the force that keeps all the planets in our solar system
orbiting around the sun.

What Newton realized is now called the law of universal gravitation.

The law of universal gravitation states that the force of gravity acts
between all objects in the universe.

• This means that any two objects in the universe, without exception,
attract each other.

• You are attracted not only to Earth but also to all the other objects
around you.

• Earth and the objects around you are attracted to you as well.

• However, you do not notice the attraction among objects because

these forces are small compared to the force of Earth’s attraction.

Factors affecting gravity

Two factors affect the gravitational attraction between objects:

Mass

Distance

Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object.

• The SI unit of mass is the kilogram.

• Everything that has mass is made up of matter.

• The more mass an object has, the greater its gravitational force.
• Because the sun’s mass is so great, it exerts a large gravitational
force on the planets.

• That’s one reason why the planets orbit the sun.