Physics Notes
Date: 11/12/2024
Friction
● Friction occurs in 3 ways
○ Static friction
○ Sliding friction
○ Resistance or drag from fluids(liquids + gases)
● Friction situation:
○ Ice skater
○ Racing car
○ Car
○ Bicycle Brakes
○ Olympic swimmers
● Forces are vector quantities
○ A vector quantity may be represented by an arrow.
○ The length of the arrow represents the magnitude (size) of force
○ The direction of the arrow represents the direction of the force
○ Forces always act in equal and opposite directions (pairs)
Hooke’s Law
● If a material returns to its original size and shape when you remove the forces
stretching or deforming it (reversible deformation), we say that the material is
demonstrating elastic behaviour.
● An inelastic material stays deformed after you have taken the force away from it.
If deformation remains (irreversible deformation) after the forces are removed,
then it is a sign of inelastic behaviour.
● If too much force is applied, any material can lose its elasticity.
Newton’s First Law
● 6 Mark Question
○ The motorcycle would have the greatest top speed since it has the least
surface area meaning there will be less air resistance and it’s the lightest
between the car and the van and it has two wheels meaning less friction
while the car and the van have four wheels, meaning they have more
friction than the motorcycle. The car would have the second-highest top
speed since it has less surface area than the van but more surface area
than the motorcycle, meaning it has less air resistance than the van but
more air resistance than the motorcycle. This leaves the van to have the
lowest top speed.
○ Result table
Sweet being tested Force (N) Extension
Strawberry lace 0
1
2
3
4
5
Cheese string 0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1
● How do we use Newton’s second law?
○ A lorry has a mass of 12,000kg. What acceleration is caused by a force of
10,000 N?
■ 10,000 / 12,000 = 0.8m/s^2
○ 50N
○ 125N
○ 3200N
● Why reaction time matters
○ If you are the driver of a car travelling at 30m/s (just over 60mph) find the
distance that your car would travel during your reaction time.
○ Assume your reaction time is 0.3 seconds
Moments and Levers
● The size of the turning effect caused by a force depends on two factors.
● The bigger the force, the larger the turning effect.
● The larger the perpendicular distance from the pivot to the point where the force
is applied, the larger the turning effect
● You need to know the location of the pivot and the point at which the force is
applied.
● The result is called a moment
● Because the distance between the pivot and the force applied is greater, less
force will be required to open the can
● Moment = force x distance
○ M=Fd
● Force on the hammer, F = 50N
Distance from pivot, d = 0.3m
Moment = 50N x 0.3m
15Nm
● Moments can be clockwise or anti-clockwise
● Principle of moments
○ AC = MC
● W1D1 = W2D2
W1D1 = 425 x 2
W1D1 = 850
W1 = 450
850 / 450 = 1.889
● 20N x 20cm = 20N x 0.2m = 4Nm
● 200 x 1.5 = 300
● An elephant of weight 20000N sits on a (very large!) see-saw 0.5 m from the
pivot. On the other side of the pivot, how far should a mouse of weight 0.1N sit to
balance his giant friend?
○ 20000N x 0.5 = 10000 10000 / 0.1 = 100000m
Centre of Mass
● Definition: The point where the mass of an object is thought to be concentrated
● Lines of equilibrium
○
● Method for calculating the centre of mass for an irregular shape
○ Suspend the card and attach the plumb line. Using a pencil, draw a line
along the plumb line.
○ Repeat the last step from a different point. The centre of mass is where
the lines cross
● If something won’t topple over, its position is stable.
Momentum
● Momentum (p) = Mass (m) x Velocity (v)
● Momentum is the impetus and driving force gained by the development of a
process or course of events>
● It can also be the force or speed of an object in motion or the increase in the rate
of development of a process: (All moving objects have momentum)
● So, momentum is equal to the product of mass and velocity of the body in
motion
● The greater the mass and the greater the velocity, the more momentum the
object will have
● Momentum is a vector quantity; it has both size and direction (like velocity, but
not speed)>
● Momentum is a fundamental concept in physics that quantifies the motion
possessed by an object
● The law of conservation of momentum in a closed system:
■ Total momentum before = Total momentum after the collision
● Momentum is always conserved:
○ The toal momentum of two objects before they collide is equal to the total
momentum after the collision.
○ P1 + p2 = P total momentum
● Crumple zones
○ Crumple zones are areas of a vehicle that are designed to crush in a
controlled way in a collision. They increase the time taken to change the
momentum in a crash, which reduces the force involved.
○ Crumple zones are another safety feature in cars
● Explain in terms of momentum how a seatbelt in a car helps to reduce the risk of
injury
○ A seatbelt reduces the risk of injury in a car crash by controlling the
change in momentum. When the car stops suddenly, the passenger's body
tends to continue moving due to inertia. The seatbelt helps by gradually
slowing the passenger down over a longer period, reducing the force
experienced in the collision. This is based on the impulse-momentum
theorem, which states that the force is inversely proportional to the time
over which momentum changes. By extending the time of deceleration,
the seatbelt reduces the force on the body. It also prevents ejection from
the car, spreading the force of the crash across the chest and pelvis, and
often includes energy-absorbing features to further reduce injury.
Electricity
Series Circuits
● The components are connected end-to-end, one after the other.
● They make a simple loop for the current to flow around.
● If one bulb ‘blows’ it breaks the whole circuit, and all the bulbs go out
Parallel Circuits
● The components are connected side by side
● The current travels down more than one path.
● If one bulb ‘blows’, current is still able to flow through the other bulb so it stays lit.
Compare and contrast series and parallel circuits:
● Both types of circuits use the same components, and both circuits must be
complete (all joined up) for current to flow in all parts of the circuit.
● Current flows through all components in series, whereas it is split between
branches in parallel circuits.
Electrical Current
WWW: I understood most topics and had good
Resistance is the measure of how difficult it is for a current to pass through a
component, like a wire or a bulb.
Resistance is measured in Ohms
Resistance: Resists the flow of energy
V = IR Resistance Practical
● What happens to the current when we increase the length of a wire?
●
Length of wire Voltage 2 current resistance
100 0.011 0.19
90 0..01 0.19
80 0.02 0.19
70 0.1 0.19
60 0.2 0.19
50 0.19
40 0.19
30 0.04 0.19
20 0.09 0.19
10 0.23 0.19
● Conclusion
● As the length of the wire increases, the resistance increases
● As the resistance increases, the current decreases
IV Characteristics
Aim:
You are going to investigate what happens to the current through a bulb, resistor and
diode when the potential difference across it is changed.
There are three activities. In each one, you are going to measure electric current in a
component as you change the potential difference
Ohm’s Law
1) Current is the electron flow rate
2) Potential difference: The energy that is transferred per unit charge between two
points in a circuit. It is often also called a voltage
3) As the voltage increases, the current also increases
Current-Voltage in a Filament Bulb
Why does the IV curve flatten or level out at high voltage?
As the potential difference across a filament bulb increases, the current also increases
and the energy dissipated, as heat, increases, resulting in a higher temperature.
As the temperature increases, the resistance of the filament increases.
This happens because the collisions between the free electrons and the lattice ions
increase due to more rigorous vibration of the lattice ions
R = V/I
Generally, as voltage increases, the current increases
In a fixed resistor, as the voltage increases, the current increases
This happens because the resistance is fixed, therefore, the gradient can’t change.
In a filament, as the voltage increases, the current increases generally, but the current
does not increase as much at low and high voltages.
