Newton’s laws of

motion
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Newton’s first law of motion:

the law of inertia
A body at rest will remain at rest and a body
in motion will continue to move in motion at
constant velocity in a straight line unless, in either
case, it is acted upon by an external unbalanced
force.
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Newton’s second law of motion:

the law of acceleration
Unbalanced force acting on an object will
cause the object to accelerate in the direction of
the force. The acceleration is directly proportional to
the vector sum of all the forces acting on the object
and inversely proportional to the object’s mass.

F = ma
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Newton’s third law of motion:

the law of action and reaction
Whenever one object exerts a force on
another object, the second object exerts reaction
force of equal magnitude but in opposite direction
to the first force.
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Application of newton’s second law

Newton’s Second Law relates the forces
acting on an object to its acceleration. Kinematics is
often used to relate an object’s acceleration to its
changing velocity and position. Here is helpful
problem-solving strategy recommended when
dealing with problems involving the application of
Newton’s Second Law:
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1. Draw a simple, clear diagram of the system.

2. Isolate the object of interest and draw the force
diagram or free body diagram for the object; a
diagram showing all external forces acting on
the object. Do not include forces exerted by the
object on its surrounding. For systems containing
more than one object, draw separate diagrams
for each object.
3. Establish convenient coordinate axes for each
object and find the component of the forces
along these axes.
4. Solve for the unknowns. You must have as many
independent equations as the number
unknowns.
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Illustrative problems
 8

Example 1:
An unbalanced force of 60 N acts on an object weighing
100 N along smooth surface. What acceleration is produced?

Given:
F
𝐹 = 60 𝑁
𝑤 = 100 𝑁
𝒘
But 𝒘 = 𝒎𝒈; 𝒎=
𝒈
a
Substituting:
𝑭
𝑭 = 𝒎𝒂; 𝒂 =
𝒎
𝑚
𝐹𝑔 60 𝑁 9.81
𝑎= = 𝑠 2 = 𝟓. 𝟖𝟖𝟔 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝑤 100 𝑁
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Example 2:
At the ends of the
string that passes over a
massless frictionless pulley are
7.0 kg and 5.0 kg boxes
suspended as shown below.
Determine a) acceleration of
the system, b) tension in the 5 kg
string.

7 kg
 10
Given:
𝑚1 = 7 𝑘𝑔
𝑚2 = 5 𝑘𝑔
T
Isolate the two boxes and
indicate the forces;
For 𝑚1 : 7 kg
∑𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑤1 − 𝑇 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑚1 𝑔 − 𝑇 = 𝑚1 𝑎 w1 = m1g

𝑇 = 𝑚1 𝑔 − 𝑚1 𝑎 (𝑒𝑞. 1)
T
For 𝑚2 :
∑𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑇 − 𝑤2 = 𝑚𝑎 5 kg
𝑇 − 𝑚2 𝑔 = 𝑚2 𝑎
𝑇 = 𝑚2 𝑎 + 𝑚2 𝑔 (𝑒𝑞. 2)
w2 = m2g
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For 𝑎, equate the two equations: To solve 𝑇, we can use either of

𝑇=𝑇 the two equations:
𝑚1 𝑔 − 𝑚1 𝑎 = 𝑚2 𝑎 + 𝑚2 𝑔 𝑇 = 𝑚1 𝑔 − 𝑚1 𝑎
𝑚1 𝑔 − 𝑚2 𝑔 = 𝑚1 𝑎 + 𝑚2 𝑎 𝑚 𝑚
𝑇 = 7 𝑘𝑔 9.81 2 − 7 𝑘𝑔 1.632 2
(𝑚1 −𝑚2 )𝑔 = (𝑚1 + 𝑚2 )𝑎 𝑠 𝑠
𝑻 = 𝟓𝟕. 𝟐𝟒𝟔 𝑵
(𝑚1 −𝑚2 )𝑔
𝑎=
𝑚1 + 𝑚2

(7 𝑘𝑔 − 5 𝑘𝑔)(9.81 𝑚/𝑠 2 )
𝑎=
7 𝑘𝑔 + 5 𝑘𝑔
𝒂 = 𝟏. 𝟔𝟑𝟓 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
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Example 3:
A constant horizontal force of 40 N acts on a body on a
smooth horizontal surface. The body starts from rest and is observed
to move 100 m in 5 seconds.
a) What is the mass of the body?
b) If the force ceases to act at the end of 5 seconds, how far will
the body move in the next 5 s?

s1 = 100 m s2 = ?
t=5s

F
m
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s1 = 100 m s2 = ?
t=5s

F
m

a) 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎 𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
1
𝑠 = 𝑣0 𝑡 + 𝑎𝑡 2 ; 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑣0 = 0 𝑚/𝑠 𝐹
2 𝑚=
𝑎
1
100 = 0 (5) + 𝑎(5)2 40 𝑁
2 𝑚=
8 𝑚/𝑠 2
𝑎 = 8 𝑚/𝑠 2
𝒎 = 𝟓 𝒌𝒈
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s1 = 100 m s2 = ?
t=5s

F
m

b) If 𝐹 = 0 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑎 = 0: Therefore,
Then 𝑠 = 𝑣𝑡
𝑠 = 𝑣𝑡
At t = 5 s
𝑠 = (40 𝑚/𝑠) (5 𝑠)
𝑣 = 𝑣0 + 𝑎𝑡
𝒔 = 𝟐𝟎𝟎 𝒎
2
𝑣 = 0 + 8 𝑚/𝑠 (5 𝑠)
𝑣 = 40 𝑚/𝑠 2
 15

Example 4:
If an elevator with a mass of 200 kg rises with an
acceleration of 1 m/s2, determine the tension in the supporting
cable.

mg
 16
Given:
𝑚 = 200 𝑘𝑔
𝑎 = 1 𝑚/𝑠 2

∑𝐹 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑇 − 𝑚𝑔 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑇 = 𝑚𝑎 + 𝑚𝑔
𝑇 =𝑚 𝑎+𝑔
𝑇 = (200 𝑘𝑔)(1 𝑚/𝑠 2 + 9.81𝑚/𝑠 2 )
𝑻 = 𝟐𝟏𝟔𝟐 𝑵
mg
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Example 5:
The two bodies, 8 N and 10 N are tied at the ends of a
chord that passes over a massless, frictionless pulley. The pulley is
mounted on two inclined planes arranged as shown. Determine a)
the acceleration of the system and b) the tension in the chord.

30° 37°
 Solution: 18
Indicate the forces acting on
the masses.

Given:
𝑊1 = 8 𝑁
𝑊2 = 10 𝑁

30°
N1 N2 37°
W1
W2
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∑𝐹𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑊1
𝑇 − 𝑊1 sin 30° = 𝑚1 𝑎 𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑚1 =
𝑔
𝑊1
𝑇 − 𝑊1 sin 30° = (𝑎)
𝑔
30°
N1 𝑾𝟏
W1 𝑻= 𝒂 + 𝑾𝟏 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟎° (𝒆𝒒. 𝟏)
𝒈
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∑𝐹𝑥 = 𝑚𝑎
𝑊2 sin 37° − 𝑇 = 𝑚2 𝑎 𝑊2
𝑏𝑢𝑡 𝑚2 =
𝑔
𝑊2
𝑊2 sin 37° − 𝑇 = 𝑎
𝑔

𝑾𝟐
37° 𝑻 = 𝑾𝟐 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟕° − 𝒂 (𝒆𝒒. 𝟐)
N2 𝒈
W2
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Equating 2 equations to solve the acceleration (a).

𝑾𝟏 𝑾𝟐
𝑻= 𝒂 + 𝑾𝟏 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟎° (𝒆𝒒. 𝟏) 𝑻 = 𝑾𝟐 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟕° − 𝒂 (𝒆𝒒. 𝟐)
𝒈 𝒈

𝑇=𝑇

𝑊1 𝑊2 𝑊2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 37° − 𝑊1 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30°

𝑎 + 𝑊1 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° = 𝑊2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 37° − 𝑎 𝑎=
𝑊1 𝑊2
𝑔 𝑔 +
𝑔 𝑔
𝑊1 𝑊2
𝑎 + 𝑎 = 𝑊2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 37° − 𝑊1 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° 10 𝑁 𝑠𝑖𝑛 37° − 8 𝑁 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30°
𝑔 𝑔 𝑎=
10 𝑁 8𝑁
2 +
𝑊1 𝑊2 9.81 𝑚/𝑠 9.81 𝑚/𝑠 2
𝑎 + = 𝑊2 𝑠𝑖𝑛 37° − 𝑊1 𝑠𝑖𝑛 30° 𝒂 = 𝟏. 𝟎𝟗𝟗𝟗 𝒎/𝒔𝟐
𝑔 𝑔
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To solve for the Tension (T), we can use either of the two
equation.

𝑾𝟏 𝑾𝟐
𝑻= 𝒂 + 𝑾𝟏 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟎° (𝒆𝒒. 𝟏) 𝑻 = 𝑾𝟐 𝒔𝒊𝒏 𝟑𝟕° − 𝒂 (𝒆𝒒. 𝟐)
𝒈 𝒈

8𝑁 10 𝑁
𝑇= 2
1.0999 𝑚/𝑠 2
+ 8 𝑁 sin 30° 𝑇 = (10 𝑁) 𝑠𝑖𝑛 37° − 2
1.0999 𝑚/𝑠 2
9.81 𝑚/𝑠 9.81 𝑚/𝑠
𝑻 = 𝟒. 𝟖𝟗𝟕 𝑵 𝑻 = 𝟒. 𝟖𝟗𝟕 𝑵

𝑻 = 𝟒. 𝟖𝟗𝟕 𝑵