#physics interactives

Newton’s Laws – Lesson 3 – Newton’s Second Law of Motion Newton’s Second Law

Newton’s first law of motion predicts the behavior of objects for which all existing forces are balanced. The first law – sometimes referred to as the law of inertia – states that if the forces acting upon an object are balanced, then the acceleration of that object will be 0 m/s/s. Objects at equilibrium(the condition in which all forces balance) will not accelerate. According to Newton, an…

Newton’s Laws – Lesson 3 – Newton’s Second Law of Motion Finding Individual Forces

As learned earlier in Lesson 3 (as well as in Lesson 2), the net force is the vector sum of all the individual forces. In Lesson 2, we learned how to determine the net force if the magnitudes of all the individual forces are known. In this lesson, we will learn how to determine the magnitudes of all the individual forces if the mass and acceleration of the object are known. The three major…

Newton’s Laws – Lesson 3 – Newton’s Second Law of Motion The Big Misconception

So what’s the big deal? Many people have known Newton’s first law since eighth grade (or earlier). And if prompted with the first few words, most people could probably recite the law word for word. And what is so terribly difficult about remembering that F = ma? It seems to be a simple algebraic statement for solving story problems. The big dealhowever is not the ability to recite the first law…

Newton’s Laws – Lesson 3 – Newton’s Second Law of Motion Finding Acceleration

As learned earlier in Lesson 3 (as well as in Lesson 2), the net force is the vector sum of all the individual forces. In Lesson 2, we learned how to determine the net force if the magnitudes of all the individual forces are known. In this lesson, we will learn how to determine the acceleration of an object if the magnitudes of all the individual forces are known. The three major equations that…

Newton’s Laws – Lesson 2 – Force and Its Representation Drawing Free-Body Diagrams

Free-body diagrams are diagrams used to show the relative magnitude and direction of all forces acting upon an object in a given situation. A free-body diagram is a special example of the vector diagrams that were discussed in an earlier unit. These diagrams will be used throughout our study of physics. The size of the arrow in a free-body diagram reflects the magnitude of the force. The…

Newton’s Laws – Lesson 1 – Newton’s First Law of Motion State of Motion

Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion. But what is meant by the phrasestate of motion? The state of motion of an object is defined by its velocity – the speed with a direction. Thus, inertia could be redefined as follows:

Inertia: tendency of an object to resist changes in its velocity. 

An object at rest has zero velocity – and (in the absence of an…

1-D Kinematics – Lesson 4 – Describing Motion with Velocity vs. Time Graphs The Meaning of Slope for a v-t Graph

As discussed in the previous part of Lesson 4, the shape of a velocity versus time graph reveals pertinent information about an object’s acceleration. For example, if the acceleration is zero, then the velocity-time graph is a horizontal line (i.e., the slope is zero). If the acceleration is positive, then the line is an upward sloping line (i.e., the slope is positive). If the acceleration is…