Ch 10: Force, Motion, and Newton's Laws
About This Chapter
Force, Motion and Newton's Laws - Chapter Summary
Isaac Newton's laws of motion describe the relationship between a body and the forces that act upon it. In the lessons in this chapter, expert instructors discuss Newton's laws and use real-world examples to describe the motion of the body in response to outside forces. You will explore gravity, weight, and mass. Other lessons examine devices that work because of Newton's laws, such as the pulley and inclined plane. If you struggle with any of these topics, our instructors will be here to answer any questions you have about the material. This chapter can help you:
- Understand Newton's three laws of motion
- Explain Newton's laws on weight, mass and gravity
- Describe differences between inertia and mass
- Explore how mass and weight are calculated
- Understand state of motion
- Name types of force
- Compare balance and unbalanced force
- Describe free-body diagrams
- Show how net force is calculated
- Calculate the acceleration of an object
- Describe air resistance
- Identify action and reaction force pairs
- Give examples of normal force
- List types of friction
- State facts about inclined planes in physics
- Provide information on buoyancy
- Perform equations involving linear momentum
- Execute lab work on various topics of force, motion and Newton's laws

1. Newton's First Law of Motion: Examples of the Effect of Force on Motion
Newton's first law, the law of inertia, states that an object will remain at rest or in motion unless acted upon by another force. Learn about whether Newton's first law applies to liquids or to human bodies, as well as whether it is applicable in space.

2. Distinguishing Between Inertia and Mass
Inertia is an object's capacity in resisting change of motion, whereas mass is the amount of matter contained. Explore each of these concepts and learn to distinguish them and their properties in the real world.

3. Newton's First Law: Physics Lab
Newton's first law of motion states that a body at rest or in motion will remain in its state unless acted upon by an external force. Learn more about the definition of Newton's first law and explore two physics lab experiments demonstrating this law.

4. Mass and Weight: Differences and Calculations
Mass is the amount of stuff, or matter, that an object contains, while weight is the force on that object because of gravity. Learn the differences between mass and weight, how to calculate them, and how to perform conversions using Newtons and kilograms.

5. State of Motion and Velocity
Motion describes movement, and velocity describes how fast and in which direction. Explore the state of motion, properties of speed and velocity, and learn how the concept that ~'motion is relative~' applies to travel.

6. Force: Definition and Types
A force is the push and pull objects exert on each other. Discover types, both contact and non-contact forces, through examples including different measures used to calculate them.

7. Forces: Balanced and Unbalanced
Forces, the push-pull interaction of objects, are often balanced in their size and opposed in direction--but not always! Learn examples of both balanced, and unbalanced forces, and the expected physics results from an encounter.

8. Free-Body Diagrams
Forces are represented in free-body vector diagrams. Understand forces and vectors, define free-body diagrams, and explore examples of free-body diagrams and how they work.

9. Net Force: Definition and Calculations
The net force is the difference between two forces that are acting on an object. Understand the definition of net force in relation to forces and vectors, explore how to calculate net force, and examine how net force changes the state of motion and body-free diagrams.

10. Newton's Second Law of Motion: The Relationship Between Force and Acceleration
Newton's second law of motion is related to acceleration and force. Learn about net force, implications for this particular law of motion, and calculations for acceleration and force for moving objects.

11. Newton's Second Law: Physics Lab
Newton's second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object is dependent on the force applied to its mass. Learn about Newton's second law, explore the eight steps for testing it in a physics lab, and discover some of the conclusions that can be drawn from the law.

12. Forces Imposed on Objects: Physics Lab
It is important in understanding the science of physics and the kinds of forces that are imposed on objects. Learn more on defining force, the difference between contact force and field force, and how mass and friction affect force.

13. Determining the Acceleration of an Object
Acceleration is the rate of change in an object's velocity. Learn how to calculate acceleration using inertia, velocity, and time, and see how objects accelerate in free fall.

14. Determining the Individual Forces Acting Upon an Object
The individual forces that act upon an object are gravity, normal force, friction, air resistance, applied force, tension, spring force, electric force, and magnetic force. Explore each of these types of forces and analyze them through free-body diagrams.

15. Air Resistance and Free Fall
Air resistance is the force of friction of air that deters the acceleration of objects in free fall. Explore this concept through the ratio of force and mass, and how air resistance determines an object's terminal velocity.

16. Acceleration & Gravity: Physics Lab
In physics, gravity refers to the force that pulls anything with mass towards the Earth. Use this physics lab to explore acceleration and its relationship with gravity. Follow the physics lab steps, and do a data analysis to understand how gravity affects acceleration.

17. Newton's Third Law of Motion: Examples of the Relationship Between Two Forces
Newton's third law of motion states that forces come in pairs. Learn about how this law is applied in interactions between objects both on Earth and in space.

18. Newton's Third Law: Physics Lab
Newton's third law of motion deals with the concept of action and reaction. Learn about Newton's third law, explore the physics lab experiment steps in demonstrating this law, and take note of the observations and conclusions of the experiment.

19. Newton's Laws and Weight, Mass & Gravity
Gravity, which is the pull between two objects that have mass, is a force, which causes different objects to accelerate as they fall. Explore the differences between Newton's laws of weight, mass, and gravity, including how to calculate them, how gravity affects them, and how they are commonly misconceived.

20. Identifying Action and Reaction Force Pairs
Newton's second and third laws of motion state how action and reaction force pairs affect objects' interactions with each other. Explore how forces come in pairs and identify action and reaction, the effect of the forces, and how action equals reaction.

21. The Normal Force: Definition and Examples
In physics, normal force refers to the contact force that occurs when one object is touching another object, such as when a gallon of milk is set on a countertop. Explore the definition and examples of the normal force, and review how normal force occurs on a flat surface as well as on an inclined plane.

22. Friction: Definition and Types
Friction is the force that resists motion between two objects or surfaces that are in contact with each other. Learn about the definition of friction, discover the two types of friction -- static friction and sliding friction, and explore their differences.

23. Inclined Planes in Physics: Definition, Facts, and Examples
In physics, an inclined plane is a tilted, or sloping surface, that attaches a higher elevation to a lower elevation. Explore the definition, facts, and examples of inclined planes in physics, learn about tilted surfaces, determining net force, how friction affects net force, and discover the relationship between gravity and normal force.

24. Buoyancy: Calculating Force and Density with Archimedes' Principle
The buoyant force is the upward force acting on objects submerged in fluids. In this lesson, the reader will discover what the buoyant force is, how Archimedes' Principle explains this force, and the principle of floatation.

25. Density & Buoyancy of Objects: Physics Lab
Buoyancy is the tendency of an object to float in a fluid. Explore the relationship between buoyancy and density, demonstrate buoyancy through the physics lab steps, and understand buoyancy through data analysis.

26. Linear Momentum: Definition, Equation, and Examples
In physics, momentum is the quantity of motion that a moving object has based on its size and speed. Learn the definition and equation of linear momentum, and explore examples. Understand the meaning of vector quantity, and review momentum's proportional relationship with velocity and mass.

27. Conservation of Momentum: Physics Lab
Conservation of momentum means that momentum is neither created nor destroyed and that the total momentum of a closed system is constant. Work through an example experiment on conservation of momentum and analyze the resulting data to understand this concept.
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