Topic 5 - Forces Flashcards
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 a magnitude and an associated direction.
How can a vector quality be drawn and what does it show?
As an arrow
The length of the arrow represents the magnitude
The arrow points in the associated direction
What is a force?
A push or pull acting on an object due to an interaction with another object.
What two categories can all forces be split into?
Contact and non-contact
Examples of contact forces
Friction, Air Resistance, Tension
Examples of non-contact forces
Gravitational, Electrostatic, magnetic
Is force a vector or scalar quantity?
Vector: has both magnitude and direction
Three examples of vectors
Velocity, displacement, force
Three examples of scalar quantities
Temperature, time, mass, speed, distance, energy
Weight
The force that acts on an object due to gravity and the object’s mass.
What quantities does weight depend on?
W = mg
Mass and gravitational field strength
Unit for weight?
Newton (N)
Unit for gravitational field strength?
N/kg
Centre of mass
The single point where an object’s weight can be considered to act through.
How do you measure weight?
Newton-meter or calibrated spring balance.
Resultant force
Single force equivalent to all other forces acting on a given object.
What does a force doing work mean?
The force causes an object to be displaced through a distance.
Work done equation
Work done = fd (force x distance)
units are joules, newtons and metres
What distance must be used when calculating work done?
Distance that is moved along the line of action of the force.
When is 1 joule of work done?
When a force of 1 Newton causes a displacement of 1 m.
Newton-metres to Joules conversion
1:1 (it’s the same)
What occurs when work is done against frictional forces?
A rise in temp of the object
Kinetic energy is converted to heat
Why does air resistance slow down a projectile?
The object does work against air resistance
Kinetic energy is converted to heat, slowing the object down