EDEXCEL IGCSE / CERTIFICATE IN PHYSICS 1-3

Forces and Movement

Edexcel IGCSE Physics pages 28 to 39
All content applies for Triple & Double Science

June 17th 2022

Presented By:

Md. Jahangir Alam

Physics Teacher
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 Edexcel Specification
UNIT 1: Forces and motion
Chapter-3: Forces, movement, shape and momentum
•understand that friction is a force that opposes motion
•know and use the relationship between unbalanced force, mass and acceleration:
•force = mass × acceleration F = m × a
•know and use the relationship:
weight = mass × g; W = m × g
•describe the forces acting on falling objects and explain why falling objects reach a
terminal velocity
•describe experiments to investigate the forces acting on falling objects, such as
sycamore seeds or parachutes
•describe the factors affecting vehicle stopping distance including speed, mass, road
condition and reaction time

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 Force mass and acceleration
The force, mass and acceleration of an object
are related by the equation:

force = mass × acceleration

F=mxa

force is measured in N
mass is measured in kg
acceleration is measured in m/s2

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also:
acceleration = force
mass
and:
force
mass =
acceleration F
m a

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Checking the equation

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 Question 1
Calculate the force required to cause a car
of mass 1200 kg to accelerate by 5 m/s2.
F=mxa
= 1200 kg x 5 m/s2
Force = 6000 N

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 Question 2
Calculate the acceleration produced by a
force of 200N on a mass of 4kg.
F=mxa
becomes: a = F ÷ m
= 200N ÷ 4kg
acceleration = 50 m/s2

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 Question 3
Calculate the force that accelerates a mass of
300kg from rest to 6 m/s over a time of 3 seconds.
acceleration = change in velocity ÷ time
= (6 – 0)m/s ÷ 3s
acceleration = 2 m/s2
F=mxa
= 300kg x 2 m/s2
force = 600N

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 Complete:
Answers
F m a

24 NN
24 4 kg 6 m/s2

200 N 40 kg
kg 5 m/s2

600 N 30 kg 20 m/s2
20

22 N
N 5g 400 m/s2

5N 100 g 5000
50 cm/s2

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 Car forces

When a vehicle travels at a steady speed the frictional forces balance the
driving force.
To slow the car the engine force is reduced by releasing the throttle and the
frictional force is increased by applying the brakes.

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 Stopping a car

The total distance required to stop a car, the

stopping distance, is equal to the thinking
distance plus the braking distance.

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Reaction time is a measure of how quickly an organism can respond to a
particular stimulus. Reaction time has been widely studied, as its
practical implications may be of great consequence, e.g. a slower than
normal reaction time while driving can have grave results.

The reaction time is the time it takes for the person to see the event and press
the brakes of the car.
 
When a person is driving the car, he see an event in front of him. Now, the time
taken by him to see the event and then move his feet off the pedal and to the
brake and then push the brake all add up to reaction time.

Braking Time
The approximate length of time a vehicle
takes to come to a complete stop after the
brakes are applied.

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The distance the car travels as a driver's brain decides when the car
needs to stop until the brakes are applied is called the thinking
distance (TD). The braking distance (BD) is the distance the car travels
once the brakes are applied until it stops. The stopping distance (SD) is
the thinking distance plus the braking distance

Thinking Distance (TD)

Let's first start with the thinking distance (TD), which is
shown in Equation 2. The car's velocity can be thought of
being constant during the short amount of time required
for the driver's reaction, so all we need is the speed times
reaction time to get the thinking distance. Since the
reaction time of a person wanting to brake is generally
less than a second, this distance is the smallest relative to
the braking distance.

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 Due to the delay in human reaction, however, there is always a
time lag between seeing a hazard and braking the car. This time
interval is known as reaction time, which is about 0.75 s and may vary
widely for different persons. During the reaction time the car travels a
distance known as reaction distance (Fig. 6-1):

After the reaction time, the brake is applied and the car decelerates. It takes another
distance, which is known as the braking distance, for the car to stop completely. The
total distance that the car has travelled after the driver seeing the hazard is known as
the stopping distance. It is equal to

Braking distance= Average speed x braking time

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We should make the stopping distance as small as possible to
prevent accidents. Both the reaction distance and the braking
distance depend on -
•The initial speed of the car. The higher the speed of the car,
the longer distance it has to travel before coming to rest.
Speeding is often a major cause of traffic accidents because
the driver cannot stop the car in time in an emergency.
•The braking distance also depends on the friction between
the tyres and road. It would increase greatly if the road is
wet, or tyres of poor quality are used.

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 Factors affecting stopping distance
1. The reaction time of the driver
This will increase if the driver is tired, distracted or
has consumed alcohol or drugs. Increasing
reaction time increases the thinking distance.

2. The speed of the car

The greater the speed the greater will be both the
thinking and braking distances.
Doubling the speed increases the overall stopping
distance by about four times.

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3. The mass of the car and its contents
The greater the mass the greater will be the
braking distance.

4. The condition of the road

Wet and icy roads will cause the braking distance
to increase.

5. The condition of the vehicle

Worn brakes or worn tyres will both increase the
braking distance.

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Choose appropriate words to fill in the gaps below:
When a car is moving at a _______
steady speed the engine force is
equal to the resistive force.
stopping
The __________ distance of a car is equal to the thinking
distance plus the _________
braking distance.
alcohol and drugs are all likely to increase the
Tiredness, ________
__________
thinking distance.
four
A car travelling at 60 m.p.h. will require roughly ______
distance
times stopping __________ of a car travelling at 30 m.p.h..

WORD SELECTION:
braking thinking four steady alcohol distance stopping

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 Mass and weight
Mass is the amount of matter in an
object.
Mass is measured in kilograms.
The mass of an object is the same on
the Moon as on the Earth.

Weight is the force of gravity on an

object.
Weight is measured in newtons.
The weight of an object on the Moon is
about one sixth that on the Earth.

A newtonmeter is used to determine

the weight of the parcel

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 The acceleration due to gravity (g)
The acceleration due to gravity (g) varies with planet, moon and star and depends on the height
of an object.

Some examples of the acceleration due to gravity:

Location m/s2 Location m/s2

Earth 10 Jupiter 24
Moon 1.6 Pluto 0.7
Mars 3.7 The Sun 270

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 Gravitational field strength (g)
This is an alternative way of measuring the strength of gravity.

The gravitational field strength is equal to the gravitational force exerted per kilogram.

Near the Earth’s surface, g = 10 N/kg

In most cases gravitational field strength in N/kg is numerically equal to the acceleration due to gravity in m/s 2, hence they both use the same symbol ‘g’.
 Calculating weight
weight = mass × gravitational field strength

W=mxg

weight is measured in N
mass is measured in kg
gravitational acceleration is measured in N/Kg

On the Earth’s surface a mass of 1kg

has a weight of 10N.

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 Falling objects
When an object falls through air
or some other fluid initially the
only significant force acting on it
is the downward pull of gravity.

On Earth, it will initially accelerate

downwards at 10 m/s2.

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As the object speeds up frictional
forces such as air resistance
become greater the faster the object
moves.

Eventually the resultant force on the

object will be zero when the frictional
forces equal the weight of the object.

The object then moves at a constant

speed called terminal velocity.

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Velocity-time graphs for a falling object

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 Parachuting
A parachutist will have two
different terminal velocities.
Before opening the parachute it
is about 60 m/s (140 m.p.h..).
Afterwards, due the much greater
drag force, the terminal velocity is
about 5 m/s (12 m.p.h.)

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Velocity-time graph of a parachutist
velocity
first terminal parachute
velocity opened

ground
initial reached
acceleration
= 10 m/s2
second terminal
velocity

time

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Choose appropriate words to fill in the gaps below:
force of gravity on an object.
Weight is the ______
Weight is equal to the _______
mass of an object in kilograms
multiplied by the acceleration due to ________.
gravity Near the
Earth’s surface a mass of one kilogram weighs _____newtons.
ten

When an object falls through a fluid it initially accelerates

_________
because of gravity. As its ________
speed increases so do the
frictional forces. Eventually the frictional forces are equal
_____ to
resultant force on
the weight of the object. At this stage the _________
the object is zero and the object falls with its terminal
_______ velocity.

WORD SELECTION:
gravity equal force accelerates terminal
ten speed resultant mass

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 Online Simulations
Effect of forces on motion using a space module -
Freezeray.com
Forces in 1 Dimension - PhET - Explore the forces at
work when you try to push a filing cabinet. Create an
applied force and see the resulting friction force and total
force acting on the cabinet. Charts show the forces,
position, velocity, and acceleration vs. time. View a Free
Body Diagram of all the forces (including gravitational
and normal forces).
Motion produced by a force - linear & circular cases -
netfirms
Table Cloth & Other Newton 1st Law Demos - 'Whys
Guy' Video Clip (3 mins) (1st of 2 clips)
Inertia of a lead brick & Circular motion of a water glass -
'Whys Guy' Video Clip (3 mins) (2nd of 2 clips)
Air Track - Explore Science
Force on a Wing - Explore Science
Newton's 2nd Law Experiment – Fendt
Reaction time stopping a car - also plots velocity/time
graph - NTNU
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Simple gravity varying with distance and mass -
Freezeway.com
Free-fall Lab - Explore Science
Galileo Time of Fall Demonstration - 'Whys Guy' Video Clip
(3 mins) - Time of fall independent of mass - Leads slug
and feather with and without air resistance. (1st of 2 clips)
Distance Proportional to Time of Fall Squared Demonstrati
on
- 'Whys Guy' Video Clip (3:30 mins) - Falling distance
prortional to the time of fall squared. (2nd of 2 clips some
microphone problems)
Lunar Lander - PhET - Can you avoid the boulder field and
land safely, just before your fuel runs out, as Neil
Armstrong did in 1969? Our version of this classic video
game accurately simulates the real motion of the lunar
lander with the correct mass, thrust, fuel consumption rate,
and lunar gravity. The real lunar lander is very hard to
control.
Moonlander Use your thrusters to overcome the effects of
gravity and bring the moonlander safely down to earth.
BBC KS3 Bitesize Revision:
Weight mass and gravity
BBC AQA GCSE Bitesize Revision:
Force and acceleration
F=ma
Stopping distances
Weight
Falling objects
 Force and Movement
Notes questions from pages 23 to 33
1. (a) State the equation relating force, acceleration and mass. (b) Calculate the
acceleration that is produced by a force of 600N acting on a mass of 120kg.
2. (a) What is weight? (b) Calculate the weight of a person of mass 90kg on the
surface of (i) the Earth and (ii) the Moon.
3. (a) Give two factors in each case that would increase the (i) braking distance
(ii) thinking distance of a car. (b) Give one factor that if decreased would
reduce both of the above.
4. Sketch and explain the shape of the velocity-time graph of a free-fall
parachutist from the time of leaving a plane to the time of reaching the ground.
5. Answer the questions on pages 32 & 33.
6. Verify that you can do all of the items listed in the end of chapter checklist on
page 32.

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