CCST9056

The Force is with You: How Things Work

Instructors (Lectures):
Dr. M. K. YIP Email: mankit@[Link] Rm 415B, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building
Dr. A. S. Y. SHUM Email: alexshum@[Link] Rm 223, Hui Oi Chow Building
Dr. F. C. C. LING Email: ccling@[Link] Rm 417B, Chong Yuet Ming Physics Building

Instructor (Tutorials):
Dr. A. S. Y. SHUM Email: alexshum@[Link] Rm 223, Hui Oi Chow Building

Course Description 1
Chapter One
Our Perception on Forces and
Reasoning

Chapter 1 2
Fundamental Forces and our Perception

Daily Observations
 Contact Force
 Action-in-a-distance Force

Fundamental Forces
 Gravitational Force
 Electromagnetic Force
 Strong Force
 Weak Force

Chapter 1 3
Fundamental Forces and our Perception
Examples of Contact Forces
 A Push on an Object
 Friction
 Tension
 Normal Force

Movie Cli
p
Chapter 1 4
Fundamental Forces and our Perception
Examples of Action-in-a-distance Forces

 Gravitational Force between Planets and Satellites

 Electric Force between Charges
 Strong Nuclear Forces
 Weak Nuclear Force for Radiation

Chapter 1 5
Preliminary Knowledge
Displacement, Velocity, Acceleration and
Force
 Displacement (, a vector)
 The change of position of a point from its initial position

 Velocity ()
 The rate of change of displacement

 Acceleration , a vector)
 The rate of change of velocity

 Force , a vector)
 The force () on an object is defined as the product of the mass (m) and
acceleration () of an object, i.e. = m.
 An object accelerates if there is a net force acting on it.

Chapter 1 6
Newtonian Mechanics

Chapter 2 7
Newtonian Mechanics

Chapter 2 8
Newtonian Mechanics

Chapter 2 9
Daily example: The Speedy Car
 Acceleration
 The rate of change of
velocity

0 to 60 mph time: 3.1 seconds

Porsche 911 Turbo S 997

Chapter 1 10
Daily example: The 100-m Dash
 Acceleration
 The rate of change of
velocity

Hypothetical runner in the 100-m

dash

Chapter 1 11
Thinking Like a Scientist
Scientific Method

 Observation
 Recognition
 Definition Observation is the noticing of some aspect of the
 Hypothesis universe. Then, one needs to recognize that a
problem-situation is significant enough to require
 Prediction attention. The circumstance is then defined or
 Experiment modeled. A tentative description of hypothesis is
then formulated to explain the phenomenon, and to
predict the existence of other phenomena. The
prediction is then tested by an experiment.

Chapter 1 12
 Mechanics Before Galileo
 Aristotle (384  322 BCE)
 Aristotle’s claim on mechanics
 While pushing an object
 Doubling the force doubles the distance ✓
 Doubling the force halves the time ✗
 Halving the distance halves the time ✗
 Halving the force and the weight keeps the distance the same ✓

 For a free falling object

 Doubling the weight doubles the speed after travelling the same distance ✗

 For a Medium
 Vacuum is impossible because the speed of an object in void would be infinity
✗
 In different media:
The density of medium relates to the travelling time linearly ✗

Chapter 1 13
 Mechanics Before Galileo
 John Philoponus (490 – 570)
 Aristotle’s view was challenged by Philoponus

 He questioned whether the rate at which bodies fall is

proportional to their weight
 He claimed that two objects are released, one is many times
as heavy as the other, the difference in time is a very small
one.

John Philoponus
Chapter 1 14
 Galilean Mechanics
 Galileo (1564  1642)
 He questioned whether the rate at which
bodies fall is proportional to their weight
 A thought experiment : A heavy object is
released when it is connected with the lighter
one with string Galileo Galilei
 The effect of medium is subtractive: An extra
upward force is exerted on an object when it is
falling
 Isochronism of the pendulum and

Thought experiment Galileo Galilei’s

lamp
Chapter 1 15
 Galilean Mechanics
 The Thought Experiment
 A heavy object is released when it is
connected with the lighter one with string
 The lighter one is driven to move faster
than before due to the higher speed of
the heavier one
 The heavier one is retarded to move slower
than before due to the lower speed
of the lighter one
 Contradiction appears as the larger the
total mass of the system the higher falling
speed it can achieve, but the two objects from the
above discussion shows that they should move with a
speed between the two speeds of the objects when
they are released alone.

Chapter 1 16
 Galilean Mechanics
 Why does it happen that the heavier object falls
faster ?
 The origin of confusion - the air resistance was
overlooked

Chapter 1 17
 Galilean Mechanics
 Galileo’s motion experiment

Distance  Square of time

Chapter 1 18
 Galilean Mechanics
 Aristotle’s view on Earth
 Bodies fall straight to the ground
 Earth is stationary

 Copernican’s view on Earth

 Earth is moving Nicolaus
Copernicus
1473 - 1543
 Opponents of Copernican’s view on Earth
 Earth is not moving, otherwise a body dropped from a
tower should fall some distance from the tower

 Galileo’s view on Inertia

 Earth is moving and object falls straight to the ground,
thus every object has an inertia

Chapter 1 19
 Galilean Mechanics
 Projectile before Galileo

A picture was published in 1547 A picture was published in 1561

by Gualtherius Rivius by Daniele Santbech

Chapter 1 20
 Galilean Mechanics
 Galileo’s Master Pieces
 Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World
Systems – Ptolemaic and Copernican (1632)
 Three Speakers:
- Simplicius (Defends Aristotle’s ideas)
- Salviati (Presents Galileo’s ideas)
- Sagredo (Appears neutral intermediary)
Remarks:
Ptolemy: "Earth-centered," or "geocentric"
Copernicus: "Sun-centered," or "heliocentric"

 Discourses and Demonstrations Concerning Two

New Sciences (1638)

Chapter 1 21
 Mechanics after Galileo
 Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy
 No more action is required for motion than for rest
 Motion and rest are only different modes of the
moved body
 Motion is in relation only to the bodies contiguous
to the
moved body
 Motion is in relation only to those contiguous
bodies that are seen as being at rest
 God is the primary cause of motion, and
always conserves the same quantity of
Rene Descartes
motion in the universe
1563 - 1650

Chapter 1 22
 Mechanics after Galileo
 Descartes’s Principles of Philosophy (cont’d)
 Laws of nature:
(I) Each thing always remains in the same state, as far
as it can, and never changes except as a result of
external causes. Hence, we must conclude that what is
in motion always, so far as it can, continues to move.

(II) Every piece of matter, considered in itself, always tends to

continue moving, not in any oblique path but only in a
straight line.

(III) When a moving body collides with another, if its power of

continuing in a straight line is less than the resistance of
the other body, it is deflected so that, while the quantity of
motion is retained, the direction is altered; but if its power
of continuing is greater than the resistance of the other body,
it carries that body along with it, and loses a quantity of
motion equal to that which it imparts to the other body.

Chapter 1 23
 Newtonian Mechanics

Isaac Newton
1643 - 1727
 Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia (1687)
 The masterpiece “Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy”
 An attempt to explain why bodies move as they do, i.e. the forces
 Dynamical systems were discussed, unlike Galileo who worked on
kinematics
 The basic laws of motion were induced from the phenomena not
metaphysics
 The mathematical method rarely presented by means of calculus
but cumbrous geometry. However, many proofs in Principia
involve ideas and methods of differential and integral calculus

Chapter 1 24
 Newtonian Mechanics
 Sir Isaac Newton’s Principia (1687)
 Book 1: Definitions, laws of motion, essential mathematics,
conservation law, inverse square law, rotating orbits,
constrained motion, and many bodies

 Book 2: The motion of bodies in resisting media, projectiles,

damped pendulums, and relevant experiments

 Book 3: The force of gravity and the consequences of it in

nature, gravitational and inertial mass, the motion if the solar
system, terrestrial phenomena, and the motion of the moon
and comets

Chapter 1 25
Newtonian Mechanics
 Newton’s Positive Inheritance
 Neatly cut the question about the solar system
(1) Given the positions, velocities, and masses of the bodies of
the solar system today, where will they be in the future and
where have they been in the past. (Soluble and well
answered)

(2) Why do the bodies of the solar system have these particular
masses, positions, and velocities? (Insoluble and perhaps
not being touched)

 Newton’s Negative Inheritance

Newton’s solutions to the problem of motion in the solar
system was so complete that it was taken as a model of any
decent theory. However, it is not universal and has limitation.

In fact, the future of a mechanical system can be perfectly

predictable from a perfect knowledge of the present is not
persuadable in the reality.
Chapter 1 26
Newtonian Mechanics
 Some definitions adopted in Principia
(1) The quantity of matter is the measure of the same arising
from its density and bulk conjointly (Modern name: Mass)

(2) The quantity of motion is the measure of the same arising

from the velocity and the quantity of matter conjointly
(Modern name: Momentum)

(3) The inherent force of matter is the power of resisting, by

which each and every body, to the extent that it can,
perseveres in its state either of resting or of moving uniformly in
a straight line (Modern name: Inertia)

(4) Impressed force is an action exerted upon a body for

changing its state either of resting or of moving uniformly
in a straight line (Modern name: Force)

Chapter 1 27
Newtonian Mechanics
 Newton’s three laws of motion
(I) Every body continues in its state of resting or
of moving uniformly in a straight line, except
insofar as it is driven by impressed forces to
alter its state

(II) The change of motion is proportional to the

motive force impressed, and takes place
following the straight line in which that force
is impressed

(III) To an act there is always a contrary and equal

reaction; or, the mutual actions of two bodies
upon each other are always equal and directed
to contrary parts

Chapter 1 28
The Power of Mathematics
The Role of Mathematics
 Both an unambiguous and universal language
 Mathematical models
 Common tools
 Differential equations
 Differential geometry
 Abstract algebra
 Probability theory

Freeman Dyson: “A physicist builds theories with

mathematical materials, because the
mathematics enables him to imagine more than
he can clearly think.”

Chapter 1 29