Unit+3+Force

Inertia

An object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an external force; an object in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an external force.

Net Force

The vector sum of all forces acting on an object; if the net force is 0, then the forces are balanced and there is no change in velocity.

Egotism

The concept that objects respond only to influences acting upon them at the instant those influences act.

Reciprocity

The principle that whenever two objects interact, they exert forces on each other equally and oppositely.

Superposition

The net force is the vector sum of all forces acting on an object.

Free Body Diagram

A diagram showing all the forces acting on an object, typically represented by a dot and force vectors.

Impulse

The product of force and the time duration over which the force acts; it causes a change in momentum.

Newton's First Law

An object will maintain a constant velocity unless acted upon by a net external force.

Static Friction

The force of friction that opposes the initiation of motion of a stationary object.

Kinetic Friction

The force of friction that opposes the motion of a moving object.

Gravitational Force

The attractive force between two masses; described mathematically by Newton's law of universal gravitation.

Weight

The gravitational force exerted by the Earth on an object, directed down towards the surface.

Projectile Motion

Motion of an object under the influence of gravity, involving independent movement in the horizontal and vertical directions.

Viscous Force

The resistive force exerted by a fluid on an object moving through it, proportional to the relative velocity.

Drag Force

The resistive force acting opposite to the motion of an object moving through a fluid, often proportional to the square of the velocity.

Coulomb's Law

The law that describes the force between two charged objects, stating that the force is proportional to the product of the charges and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them.

Electric Charge

A fundamental property of matter that causes it to experience a force when placed in an electromagnetic field.

Conservation of Electric Charge

The principle that electric charge can neither be created nor destroyed, only transferred.