Chapter 5

APPLYING NEWTON’S LAWS

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Lecture slides format and content adapted from Lectures by Jason Harlow

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 Introduction
• Newton’s three laws of motion can be stated very
simply, but applying these laws to real-life
situations requires analytical skills and problem-
solving techniques.
• In this chapter we’ll begin with equilibrium
problems, in which we analyze the forces that act
on a body that is at rest or moving with constant
velocity.
• We’ll then consider bodies that are not in
equilibrium, for which we’ll have to deal with the
relationship between forces and motion.

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 Using Newton’s first law when forces are in equilibrium
• A body is in equilibrium when it is at rest or moving
with constant velocity in an inertial frame of
reference.

• The essential physical principle is Newton’s first

law:

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 Problem-solving strategy for equilibrium situations
• Identify the relevant concept: You must use Newton’s first
law.
• Set up the problem by using the following steps:
1. Draw a sketch of the physical situation.
2. Draw a free-body diagram for each body that is in
equilibrium.
3. Ask yourself what is interacting with the body by
contact or in any other way. If the mass is given, use
w = mg to find the weight.
4. Check that you have only included forces that act on
the body.
5. Choose a set of coordinate axes and include them in
your free-body diagram.
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Problem-solving strategy for equilibrium situations
• Execute the solution as follows:
1. Find the components of each force along each of the
body’s coordinate axes.
2. Set the sum of all x-components of force equal to zero.
In a separate equation, set the sum of all y-
components equal to zero.
3. If there are two or more bodies, repeat all of the above
steps for each body. If the bodies interact with each
other, use Newton’s third law to relate the forces they
exert on each other.
4. Make sure that you have as many independent
equations as the number of unknown quantities. Then
solve these equations to obtain the target variables.
• Evaluate your answer.
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Using Newton’s second law: dynamics of particles

• In dynamics problems, we apply Newton’s

second law to bodies on which the net force is
not zero.
• These bodies are not in equilibrium and hence
are accelerating:

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 A note on free-body diagrams
• does not belong in a free-body diagram.

• Incorrect free-body
diagram.

• Correct free-body diagram.

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 Problem-solving strategy for dynamics situations
• Identify the relevant concept: You must use Newton’s
second law.
• Set up the problem by using the following steps:
1. Draw a simple sketch of the situation that shows each
moving body. For each body, draw a free-body diagram
that shows all the forces acting on the body.
2. Label each force. Usually, one of the forces will be the
body’s weight w = mg.
3. Choose your x- and y-coordinate axes for each body, and
show them in your free-body diagram.
4. Identify any other equations you might need. If more than
one body is involved, there may be relationships among
their motions; for example, they may be connected by a
rope.
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 Problem-solving strategy for dynamics situations
• Execute the solution as follows:
1. For each body, determine the components of the
forces along each of the body’s coordinate axes.
2. List all of the known and unknown quantities. In your list,
identify the target variable or variables.
3. For each body, write a separate equation for each
component of Newton’s second law. Write any
additional equations that you identified in step 4 of “Set
Up.” (You need as many equations as there are target
variables.)
4. Do the easy part—the math! Solve the equations to
find the target variable(s).
• Evaluate your answer.

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Apparent weight and apparent weightlessness
• When a passenger with mass m rides in an elevator with y-
acceleration ay, a scale shows the passenger’s apparent
weight to be:
n = m(g + ay)
• The extreme case occurs when
the elevator has a downward
acceleration ay = −g — that is,
when it is in free fall.
• In that case n = 0 and the
passenger seems to be weightless.
• Similarly, an astronaut orbiting the
earth with a spacecraft experiences
apparent weightlessness.

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 Frictional forces
• There is friction between the feet of this caterpillar
(the larval stage of a butterfly of the family
Papilionidae) and the surfaces over which it
walks.
• Without friction, the caterpillar could not move
forward or climb over obstacles.

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 Frictional forces
• When a body rests or slides on a surface,
the friction force is parallel to the surface.

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 Kinetic and static friction
• Kinetic friction acts when a body slides over
a surface.
• The kinetic friction force is fk = µkn.

• Static friction acts when there is no relative

motion between bodies.
• The static friction force can vary between
zero and its maximum value: fs ≤ µsn.

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 Static friction followed by kinetic friction
• Before the box slides, static friction acts. But once it
starts to slide, kinetic friction acts.

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Some approximate coefficients of friction

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 Static friction and windshield wipers
• The squeak of windshield wipers on dry glass is a stick-slip
phenomenon.
• The moving wiper blade sticks to the glass momentarily,
then slides when the force applied to the blade by the
wiper motor overcomes the maximum force of static
friction.

• When the glass is wet from

rain or windshield cleaning
solution, friction is reduced
and the wiper blade doesn’t
stick.

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 Dynamics of circular motion
• If a particle is in uniform circular motion, both its
acceleration and the net force on it are directed
toward the center of the circle.

• The net force on the

particle is Fnet = mv2/R.

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 What if the string breaks?
• If the string breaks, no net force acts on the
ball, so it obeys Newton’s first law and
moves in a straight line.

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 Avoid using “centrifugal force”
• Figure (a) shows the correct
free-body diagram for a
body in uniform circular
motion.

• Figure (b) shows a common

error.

• In an inertial frame of
reference, there is no such
thing as “centrifugal force.”

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 A car rounds a banked curve
• At what angle should a curve be banked so a
car can make the turn even with no friction?

• Follow Example 5.21 and 5.22.

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