Newton's Laws and Forces Flashcards

This set of vocabulary flashcards covers the fundamental concepts of force, including balanced and unbalanced forces, friction, and Newton's three laws of motion as described in the lecture notes.

Force

A physical quantity that can make an object move from rest, change its speed or direction, or change its shape; it requires magnitude, direction, and a unit to be specified.

Newton (N)

The SI unit of force, where $1\,N$ is defined as the force that produces an acceleration of $1\,m/s^2$ on an object of mass $1\,kg$.

Spring balance

An instrument used to measure the magnitude of a force, such as the weight of an object, by measuring the pull on an internal spring.

Balanced forces

Two forces acting on an object that are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction, resulting in no change in the object's motion.

Unbalanced forces

Forces applied to an object that result in a non-zero net force, causing a change in the object's state of rest or motion.

Net force

The vector sum of all forces acting on an object; the object's motion depends entirely on this resultant value.

Force of friction

A force that opposes the motion of an object, arising between the surfaces in contact and acting in a direction opposite to the applied force.

Normal force

The force exerted by a surface on an object placed upon it, acting in an upward direction perpendicular to the surface.

Inertia

The tendency of objects to resist any change in their state of rest or uniform motion.

Newton's First Law of Motion

The law stating that an object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion continues to move with a constant velocity unless acted upon by a net force.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

The law stating that the magnitude of acceleration is proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to the mass, mathematically expressed as $F = ma$.

Acceleration due to gravity ($g$)

The acceleration involved when an object falls towards Earth, taken to be approximately $9.8\,m/s^2$ near the Earth's surface.

Momentum

A physical quantity defined as the product of an object's mass and its velocity, where the direction of momentum is the same as the velocity.

Newton's Third Law of Motion

The principle that for every action force, there is an equal and opposite reaction force acting between interacting objects.