Forces and their Effects Flashcards
What is a force
A push or pull acting on an object due to an interaction with another object
What are the 2 categories that all forces can be split into
- Contact forces (objects touching)
- Non-contact forces (objects separated)
Give 3 examples of contact forces
- Friction
- Air resistance
- Tension
Give 3 examples of non-contact forces
- Gravitational forces
- Electrostatic forces
- Magnetic forces
Is a force a vector or a scalar quantity. Why?
- Vector
- It has both magnitude and direction
What is a scalar quantity
- A quantity that only has a magnitude
- A quantity that isn’t direction dependent
What is a vector quantity
A quantity that has both magnitude and direction
Give 3 examples of vector quantities
- Velocity
- Displacement
- Force
Give examples of scalar quantities
- Temperature
- Time
- Mass
- Speed
- Distance
- Energy
How are vectors represented
- Vector arrows
- Length indicates magnitude
- Arrow indicates direction
How can you calculate the resultant magnitude and direction of forces using a scale drawing
- Draw the component forces as scaled arrows, joined tip-to-tail
- Draw a line connecting the 2 open ends
- Measure the length of this line and convert into the magnitude
- Measure the angle between the resultant line and the vertical/horizontal to find the direction
What is an alternative name for the turning effect of a force
A moment
State the equation used to calculate the moment of a force
Moment of force = Force x Distance
What distance measurement is used when calculating a moment
The perpendicular distance from the pivot to the line of action of the force
If an object is in equilibrium, what can be said about the moments acting on the object
The clockwise moments are equal to the anticlockwise moments
