Newton's Laws of Motion

Flashcards covering key vocabulary and concepts related to Newton's Laws of Motion.

Force

A push or a pull; an interaction between two objects or between an object and its environment.

Vector Quantity

A quantity that has both magnitude and direction, such as force.

Normal Force

The push back from a surface acting perpendicular to the surface.

Friction Force

A force that resists the motion of an object.

Tension

The force transmitted through a rope or string when it is pulled taut.

Weight

The force exerted on an object due to gravity, calculated as mass times acceleration due to gravity (w = mg).

Net Force

The vector sum of all the forces acting on an object, determining its acceleration.

Newton's First Law

A body at rest or in uniform motion will remain that way unless acted upon by a net external force.

Equilibrium

A state where the net force acting on an object is zero, resulting in no acceleration.

Newton's Second Law

A net force causes an object to accelerate in the direction of the net force; the acceleration is directly proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to the mass.

Newton's Third Law

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction; forces occur in pairs.

Free Body Diagram

A graphical representation used to show all the forces acting on a single object.

Component Vectors

Vectors that represent the horizontal and vertical influences of a single vector force.

Mass vs. Weight

Mass is the amount of matter in an object, while weight is the force of gravity acting on that mass.

Force Vectors

Representations of forces that include both magnitude and direction, allowing for analysis of net force and motion.

Force

A push or a pull; an interaction between two objects or between an object and its environment.

Vector Quantity

A quantity that has both magnitude and direction, such as force.

Normal Force

The push back from a surface acting perpendicular to the surface.

Friction Force

A force that resists the motion of an object.

Tension

The force transmitted through a rope or string when it is pulled taut.

Weight

The force exerted on an object due to gravity, calculated as mass times acceleration due to gravity (w = mg).

Net Force

The vector sum of all the forces acting on an object, determining its acceleration.

Newton's First Law

A body at rest or in uniform motion will remain that way unless acted upon by a net external force.

Equilibrium

A state where the net force acting on an object is zero, resulting in no acceleration.

Newton's Second Law

A net force causes an object to accelerate in the direction of the net force; the acceleration is directly proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to the mass.

Newton's Third Law

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction; forces occur in pairs.

Free Body Diagram

A graphical representation used to show all the forces acting on a single object.

Component Vectors

Vectors that represent the horizontal and vertical influences of a single vector force.

Mass vs. Weight

Mass is the amount of matter in an object, while weight is the force of gravity acting on that mass.

Force Vectors

Representations of forces that include both magnitude and direction, allowing for analysis of net force and motion.

What is the mathematical representation of Newton's Second Law?

F_{net} = ma

How does an object's acceleration change if the net force acting on it is doubled, assuming mass remains constant?

According to Newton's Second Law (F_{net} = ma), if the net force is doubled while mass is constant, the acceleration will also double.

A car is parked on a flat road. Describe the forces acting on it and their state of equilibrium.

The forces acting are weight (downwards) and the normal force from the road (upwards). Since the car is at rest, these forces are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction, resulting in a net force of zero and thus equilibrium.