Chapter 3 Notes
Dynamics
_____
Dynamics
- The study of how objects move and the relationship of this motion to
physical concepts e.g. force, mass
Force
● A force is something capable of changing an object’s state of motion
Field Forces (non-contact forces)
Contact Force
- between 2 disconnected objects
physical contact between 2 objects
Frictional Force Magnetic Force
Only occurs when there is a capability for
something to move
Normal force Electrical Force
Must always be perpendicular to surface
Spring force Gravitational Force
Tensional force
Air resistance force
Applied force
Chapter 3: Dynamics
Free Body Diagrams
Addition of Vectors
● When a number of forces act on an object, we can replace these forces
with a single force → NET/RESULTANT force
Vector Diagrams
2 methods:
● PParallelogram
a ra lle log ra m Method
m e thod
● TTriangle
ria ng le Method
me thod
2
Chapter 3: Dynamics
Net force
When net force is…
● Zero
○ Forces of equal magnitude act in opposite direction
○ referred to as balanced forces
○ Combined effect of all the forces is zero, does not mean that there
are no forces acting on an object
● Non-zero
○ Forces of unequal magnitude act in different direction
○ referred to as unbalanced forces
Newton’s 1st Law (Balanced Forces)
● An object will remain at rest OR continue to move at a constant velocity
if there is no resultant force acting on it
● Implies that matter has a built-in reluctance to change its state of
rest/motion → INERTIA
○ The mass of a body is a measure of its inertia.
○ A smaller mass will have a smaller inertia.
Newton’s 2nd Law (Unbalanced Forces)
● The acceleration of a body is proportional to the net force acting on it
and occurs in the direction of the force.
F net = ma where Fnet = net force (N)
m = mass (kg)
a = acceleration (ms- 2)
● The acceleration produced by the net force will be in the direction of the
net force
Newton’s 3rd Law
● For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction
● These forces act on mutually opposite bodies
3
Chapter 3: Dynamics
○ action = -reaction
○ force = -opposite force
Note: - sign represents opposite direction
Friction
When f (frictional force) is equal to F (applied force), there is no net
force acting on the object, so there is no acceleration, and it has a
constant velocity
Applied force = Frictional force + Net force (force applied has to
overcome friction)
Summary
4
Chapter 4 Notes
Mass, Weight
and Density
_____
Mass
The mass of a body is the amount of substance in the body
Inertia: the ability to resist a change from its state of rest or motion is
called inertia. The inertia of a body depends on its mass.
Weight
The weight (force) of a body is the pull of gravity on the body due to
gravitational attraction (acceleration)
Hence F = ma becomes W = mg
W = mg where W = weight
m = mass
g = gravity
Gravitational Field Strength, g
Defined as gravitational force per unit mass
Varies from place to place
Difference between Mass and Weight
Mass Weight
Definition the amount of The gravitational pull
substance in a body acting on a body
Dependent on No Yes
location? The weight is same on The weight is different
the Moon as on Earth on the Moon from Earth
Measured using? A beam balance A spring balance
Unit Kilogram Newton
Chapter 4: Mass, Weight and Density
Density
The density of a substance is defined as its mass
per unit volume.
Density = Mass/Volume
SI unit: kg m-3
2
Chapter 1 Notes
Physical
Quantities, Units
_____ & Measurement
Physical quantities and SI units
Basic Quantity Name of SI Unit SI Unit
Length Metre m
Mass Kilogram kg
Time Second s
Thermodynamic temperature Kelvin K
Amount of substance Mole mol
Example 1:
What are the derived units of density?
𝑴𝒂𝒔𝒔
𝑫𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝑽𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒎𝒆
𝒌𝒈
𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆𝒇𝒐𝒓𝒆 𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒅𝒆𝒏𝒔𝒊𝒕𝒚 =
𝒎𝟑
Prefixes
Prefix Multiple Symbol Factor Order of
magnitude
Giga 1 000 000 G 109 9
000
Mega 1 000 000 M 106 6
Kilo 1000 K 103 3
Deci 0.1 D 10-1 -1
Centi 0.01 C 10-2 -2
Milli 0.001 M 10-3 -3
Micro 0.000 001 10-6 -6
Nano 0.000 000 N 10-9 -9
001
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Example 2:
Express 0.000 0023m in a suitable magnitude
0.000 0023𝑚 = 2.3𝜇𝑚 = 2.3 × 10−6 𝑚
Scalars and vectors
A scalar quantity has only magnitude but does not have direction.
A vector has both magnitude and direction
Scalar Vector
Distance Displacement
Speed Velocity
Energy Force
Time Acceleration
Volume Weight
Density
Mass
Addition of Vector
Example 3:
Find the resultant force R at point P due to F = 4N and F = 20N.
2
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Method 1: Trigonometric Method
Using Pythagoras’ Theorem:
𝑅 = √42 + 202
𝑅 = √416
𝑅 = 20.4𝑁
4
tan 𝜃 =
20
𝜃 = 11.3°
Method 2: Graphical Method
Step 1: select an appropriate scale (E.g. 1cm to 2N)
Step 2: Draw a parallelogram of vectors to scale
Step 3: measure the diagonal to find R
Step 4: Use the protractor to measure angle 𝜃
3
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Measurement of length and time
Range of length, l Instrument Accuracy Example
l > 100cm Measuring tape ±0.1 cm Waistline of a person
5cm < l < 100cm Metre rule ±0.1cm Height of an object
1cm < l < 10cm Vernier calipers ±0.01cm Diameter of a breaker
l<2cm Micrometer screw ±0.001cm Thickness of a length
gauge of wire
Vernier Callipers
A pair of vernier callipers can be used to measure the thickness of
solids and the external diameter of an object by using the external
jaws.
The internal jaws of the calliper are used to measure the internal
diameter of an object.
The tail of the calliper is used to measure the depth or a hole.
Vernier callipers can measure up to a precision of ±0.01cm
4
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Example 4:
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 2.55𝑐𝑚
𝑍𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = −0.02 𝑐𝑚
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ – 𝑍𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 2.55𝑐𝑚 − (−0.02)𝑐𝑚
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 2.57𝑐𝑚
5
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Micrometre Screw Gauge
The jaws of the Micrometre screw gauge are used to measure the
external diameter of an object.
Micrometre screw gauges can measure up to a precision of ±0.01mm
6
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Example 5:
𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 7.50𝑚𝑚 + 0.39𝑚𝑚
= 7.89𝑚𝑚
𝑍𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = +0.05 𝑚𝑚
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 𝐴𝑝𝑝𝑎𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ – 𝑍𝑒𝑟𝑜 𝑒𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 7.89𝑚𝑚 − (0.05)𝑚𝑚
𝐴𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑔𝑡ℎ = 7.84𝑚𝑚
7
Chapter 1: Physical Quantities, Units & Measurement
Simple Pendulum
Period is the time taken to move from P > Q > R > Q > P
One oscillation is when the bob travels from P > Q > R > Q > P
The amplitude is the distance between the rest position (point Q) of
the bob to the extreme end of the oscillation (either point P or point R)
The period of the pendulum, T, is affected only by the
o Length of the string, l
o Acceleration due to gravity, g
T is not affected by the mass of the pendulum bob.
How to find the period:
1. Take the total time for 20 oscillations
2. Repeat step 1
3. Calculate the average of the two timings
4. Divide the average calculated by 20 to obtain the period
