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Grade 11 Physics Notes - Dynamics: Aaron G. Kebede

Dynamics is the study of forces that cause motion. Force is a vector quantity that requires both magnitude and direction. There are four fundamental forces in nature: strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetism, and gravity. Newton's Laws of Motion describe how forces cause motion in inertial reference frames. One example is friction, which always opposes motion between two surfaces in contact. The friction force is proportional to the normal force pressing the surfaces together. Heat is generated during friction as the vibration of contacting surface atoms is converted to sound and thermal energy.

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1K views12 pages

Grade 11 Physics Notes - Dynamics: Aaron G. Kebede

Dynamics is the study of forces that cause motion. Force is a vector quantity that requires both magnitude and direction. There are four fundamental forces in nature: strong nuclear, weak nuclear, electromagnetism, and gravity. Newton's Laws of Motion describe how forces cause motion in inertial reference frames. One example is friction, which always opposes motion between two surfaces in contact. The friction force is proportional to the normal force pressing the surfaces together. Heat is generated during friction as the vibration of contacting surface atoms is converted to sound and thermal energy.

Uploaded by

Aaron Kebede
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Grade 11 Physics Notes - Dynamics

Aaron G. Kebede

March, 2022
The Concept of Force

Dynamics is the study of the forces that cause objects and systems to be in
motion. Intuitively speaking(as we did in grades 7,8,9, and 10), we can say
force is a push or a pull on an object or a system.

Force is a vector quantity, hence it needs both magnitude and direction to be


fully expressed.

Force is also always a result of interaction between different objects, no single


object can possess force on its own.

We experience force on a daily basis - whether we are sitting or standing, or


even sleeping - it is an inherent part of all of us. We find 4 fundamental forces
in nature(aka The Four Forces of Nature).
Strong Nuclear Force: This is the force that keeps the nucleus intact -
keeps protons and neutrons bound together in the nucleus.
Weak Nuclear Force: This is the force that exists at an atomic level and
is present during atomic fission and fusion (fission is when an atom is split,
for example, during radioactivity. A perfect fusion example is how the sun
produces energy by joining atoms in a nuclear process)
Electromagnetism: perhaps, a force we get to experience the most in life.
Governs the interaction between magnetic and electric fields.
Gravity: Gravity is the weakest out of these 4 and it is the result of the
interaction between massive bodies. It is a purely attractive force.
Computing Forces

More often than not, we find forces in nature to be more complex to understand
and compute. A simpler example to get started with is a force vector that acts
in two dimensions at a tilt. To compute its interaction with a force of a similar
kind, we would have to resolve the vector into its components.

For example, consider the vector [0.8,0.8]. Another important idea to make
note of is that we can express this same vector using angles. To find the
angle(usually the angle between the vector and the X-axis) we can use a little
bit of trigonometry.
Let’s say the angle between the vector and the X-axis is θ, this means that the
tangent of the angle between the two vectors is 1, effectively making the angle
between them 45 degrees.(Work on Your Exercise Book Why )
√
The magnitude of the vector is 0.8 2(why?). Therefore, another way to
describe this same vector would be stating its magnitude and the direction with
the√angle we just calculated. We can say it is a vector with a magnitude of
0.8 2 and a direction of π4 above the X-axis.

Another thing to note is that the SI unit of force is Newton. Any vector should
be accompanied by a magnitude, direction, and a unit to fully be expressed.
The dimensional analysis of Newton is, N = [MLT−2 ]
Newton’s Laws of Motion

Arguably one of the best physicists the world has ever seen, Newton has
contributed a lot to the field of motion, namely Newton’s Laws of Motion.
These are three laws that we experience in day to day life and seem to stem
from logic.

Before we delve into these laws, let’s first recall reference frames. A reference
frame is a coordinate system or a point of reference from which we observe and
study motion. Such a frame that has a uniform motion(or is at rest - which is a
uniform motion), is called an inertial reference frame.

Newton’s Laws of Motion hold true in inertial frames of reference.


Law of Inertia: This is a law we innately experience. It states that an
object will keep its state of motion unless interrupted by an outside force.
Law of Acceleration: This laws states that for an object to accelerate, a
net force should act on it, and the resulting acceleration is directly
proportional to the net force.
Law of Action and Reaction: This is also a logical physical law that we
experience day to day; walking is a result of this, for instance. This laws
states that if an object acts on another, the other objects acts with an
equal but opposite force on the first object.
Now that we have seen these Laws, we can study examples of forces that stem
from these interactions. A classic example is friction. Friction stems from two
surfaces sliding on one another. It has many forms. The first example that
comes to mind is the rubbing of two solid surfaces on each other. However, an
object falling down from the sky also experiences friction; it is called drag.
friction
Friction, as we said earlier, is a result of contact/rubbing between solid
surfaces. Experiments show that the friction force arises from the nature of the
two surfaces: because of their roughness, contact is made only at a few
locations where peaks of the material touch. At these locations, the friction
force arises in part because one peak physically blocks the motion of a peak
from the opposing surface and in part from chemical bonding (“spot welds”) of
opposing peaks as they come into contact. Although the details of friction are
quite complex at the atomic level, this force ultimately involves an electrical
interaction between atoms or molecules. Consider the box in the figure below,
for instance.
One very distinctive fact about friction is that it always opposes and acts
against motion. Therefore, as we saw in the diagram above, we should assume
that the direction friction is acting opposite to the motion of a body. To
understand how we can find the friction acting on a body, we first need to find
all the forces acting on it. We can resolve the forces into their components(if
any) and then add them as vectors along their respective dimensions.

For an object such as the one shown above, we can see all the forces acting on
it. When working with forces, you should always define the axes you’re working
with.
Weight always acts vertically downward regardless of the orientation of
the axes you set up.
Normal Force, as the definition indicates is a normal/perpendicular to
the surface it is acting from.
These two important points above will help simplify computing the free body
diagram easier, that way we can easily be able to find the friction force.
Now, let’s attempt to find the friction mathematically. We can take our axes
defined as convention(Y-vertical and X -horizontal)

Σ Fy = 0, why?(We know the box is not accelerating along the Y, so that


means the acceleration is 0. According to Newton’s Second Law, if acceleration
is 0, it implies that the net force is also 0.)
The forces that are acting along the Y - axis are Fn and mg, and their sum
must equal zero. Fn + mg = 0.

Along the X - axis, however, the only force acting on the object is friction.
Thus, the following holds true. Σ Fx = ma.

This implies, f = ma. The next step should be how to find the frictional force.
Let’s think back for a moment and consider two objects rubbing on one
another, if the push between the two is increased, it will be harder to move the
objects past one another. That means, as the pushing of surfaces increases, the
opposition to motion increases as well. This opposition to motion is friction
and friction is proportional to the pushing of surfaces on one another(which is
the normal force.)

Look at the diagram below to see how friction is related to normal force.
But the atomic-scale view promises to explain far more than the simpler
features of friction. The mechanism for how heat is generated is now being
determined. In other words, why do surfaces get warmer when rubbed?
Essentially, atoms are linked with one another to form lattices. When surfaces
rub, the surface atoms adhere and cause atomic lattices to vibrate—essentially
creating sound waves that penetrate the material.
The sound waves diminish with distance and their energy is converted into
heat. Chemical reactions that are related to frictional wear can also occur
between atoms and molecules on the surfaces. Thus, it is the reason why we
almost always associate heat and sound with friction.

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