Module 7 Forces
Module 7 Forces
Module 7 Forces
Motion occurs all around us. We see it in our everyday activities, in children playing in
the neighborhood, in animals roaming in the field, in trees swaying in the wind, and even in
the stars at night. There is also motion that we cannot directly see, like the vibration of
atoms responsible for heat and sound and the flow of electrons that constitutes electricity.
Truly, motion is everywhere.
But what is responsible for all these type of motion? What causes motion? Based on our
experiences, whenever an object at rest moves, we presume that something acting on it
made it move and whenever a moving object slows down and eventually stops, something
acting on it made it stop. In science, this thing that affects motion is called force.
What is a force? What changes are brought about by forces acting on bodies? How do
forces affect motion? What are the different types of forces? How does force and surface
area affect pressure? This module presents some simple activities that will help you
understand the basic concepts about forces.
This module has been designed to help you understand the basic concepts about
forces. The simple activities that you will perform will help you comprehend the concepts
about forces as they apply to real life situations. By engaging in these learning activities, you
become an active participant in the learning process.
1
As you go through the module, you are in complete control of the learning process.
Here’s a simple guide for you in going about the module:
Instructions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write the letter on your answer
sheet.
2. What force is responsible for keeping the planets in their orbits as they revolve
around the sun?
a. nuclear
b. magnetic
c. electrical
d. gravitational
2
a. friction
b. tension
c. normal force
d. gravitational
5. A sack of rice is hanging from a rope. What term refers to the force exerted by the
rope pulling the sack of rice up?
a. friction
b. tension
c. normal force
d. elastic force
6. What term refers to the force by which all bodies are attracted to the earth?
a. weight
b. tension
c. friction
d. normal force
8. What type of force is responsible for the slowing down of moving objects on a
surface?
a. friction
b. weight
c. tension
d. normal force
9. How does a negatively charged body interact electrically with a positively charged
body?
a. attract
b. repel
c. either attract or repel
d. it depends on their masses
10. When an atomic bomb explodes, tremendous amount of energy is released. With
what force is this energy associated?
a. weak
b. electric
c. nuclear
d. magnetic
11. For the same force applied, what happens to the pressure if the surface area
where the force is acting is decreased?
a. increases
b. decreases
c. does not change
d. not enough information is given
12. A balloon is squeezed by pushing on its opposite sides. How would this affect the
air pressure inside the balloon?
a. the air pressure increases
b. the air pressure decreases
c. the air pressure does not change
d. not enough information is provided
3
Key to answers on page 21
4
Lesson 1 The Effects of Forces
Forces have always been a part of our everyday experiences. Whether we are doing
our household chores, working in the field, or even playing at school, we can see the effects
of forces in action. For example, in fetching water from a well, you need to exert a force by
pulling the rope up. In moving a car stuck in the mud, you need to exert a force by pushing
it. And in a tug–of–war game, you need to exert a force by pulling the rope as hard as
possible in order to win. These are just some of the many instances that show forces in
action. From these instances, can you see the changes brought about by forces acting on
certain bodies? What are these changes? The following activities will help you find out the
answers to these questions.
Materials: inflated balloon, two books with different sizes, small ball
Procedure:
(b) Pull on the opposite sides of the balloon. Describe what happens to the
balloon.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
(b) Which is harder to move, the big book or the small book?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
4. Make the small ball roll along the flat surface of a table.
5
(a) Describe the path taken by the ball.
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
(b) How do you deflect the ball from its path while it is moving?
_________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________
The activities you have just performed illustrate the changes brought about by forces
acting on certain bodies. You may have noticed the following changes:
What is responsible for such changes? It is a force. A force is a push or a pull. In part 1,
the size and shape of the balloon can be changed either by pushing or pulling on the
opposite sides of the balloon. In part 2, what made the books move was either a push or a
pull. However, the big book required more effort for it to move than the small book. In part 3,
the speed of the rolling ball can be changed by pushing the ball. If the push given to the ball
is in the same direction as its motion, it will move faster. However, if the push given to the
rolling ball is in the opposite direction, it will move slower and will eventually stop. In the last
part, the direction of motion of the rolling ball can be changed by pushing it sideways either
to the right or to the left of its straight-line path.
The activities you have just performed demonstrated what a force could do to an object. To
summarize:
What is a force? A force is a push or pull that may cause a change in the object’s
motion, size and shape, or both. How is force measured? A device used in measuring force
in the laboratory is called spring balance. It consists of a coil spring, enclosed in a case for
protection, with a pointer attached to one end. When forces are applied to the ends of a
spring balance, the pointer indicates the amount of elongation that is proportional to the
force applied. The SI unit of force is Newton (N). The weighing scale you see in the market
and the bathroom scale used in weighing a baby are all used to measure force which is the
weight. However, these weighing scales are not calibrated in newtons but in kilograms.
6
Self-Test 1.1
In lesson 1, you learned that a force could either be a push or a pull capable of
changing the size or shape, the speed, and the direction of motion of objects. By pulling on
the rope, you can direct a carabao and its cart in the right direction. By pushing a cart, you
can make it move. Based on these instances, it seems that forces are always exerted
through contact. But there are other forces exerted even without physical contact between
the interacting bodies. So how are forces exerted on interacting bodies? The following
activity will help you classify forces based on the way they act on bodies.
Procedure:
1. (a) How do you make a ball at rest on top of a table move?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
(b) Was there contact between your hand and the ball as you try to make it
move?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. (a) Hold the same ball at shoulder level and then let go. What happened to the
ball?
7
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
(b) Was there contact between the floor and the ball while it was falling after
being released from your hand?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
The activity you have just performed illustrates that there are two different ways by
which forces act on objects. In part (1), in order for the ball at rest to move, you need to
exert a force on the ball. This force that you exerted on the ball could either be a push or a
pull. As you push or pull the ball, there is physical contact between your hand and the ball.
However in part (b), when you let go of the ball at shoulder level, it falls to the floor. As the
ball falls, there must be a force exerted on it that makes it fall. But what could have exerted
this force? It is the floor. The floor exerts an attractive force on the ball even if there is no
physical contact between them. These observations point out that forces could either be
contact forces or non – contact forces.
Contact forces are types of forces in which the two interacting bodies are in
contact as they exert forces on one another.
Materials: book, marble, stone, string, spring, plastic comb, small bits of acetate, two
bar magnets
Procedure:
1. Place a book on top of a table. What keeps the book from falling? How is this
possible?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
2. Roll a marble on top of a level surface. Make it stop. Slide a light book on top of
the same level surface by giving it an initial push. Did the book continue to slide?
What is responsible for making the sliding book slow down and eventually stop?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
3. Tie a small stone at the end of the string. Allow the stone to hang. What keeps
the stone from falling? How is this possible?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
8
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
4. Drop a small stone and a piece of paper from the same height at the same time.
Observe closely the motion of the stone and the paper as they fall. Which of
them reached the ground first? Why didn’t the other one reach the ground at the
same time as the first? (Try orienting your palm against the direction of the wind.
What do you feel?)
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
5. Attach one end of a spring firmly on a wall. Compress the spring by pushing a
small stone against the free end of the spring. Release the spring. What
happens to the stone? How is this possible?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
6. Rub a plastic comb against your hair. After several strokes, let it approach small
bits of acetate. (Make sure that the comb only approaches the bits of acetate,
not actually touching them). What happens to the small pieces of acetate? How
is this possible?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
7. Let the north pole of a bar magnet approach the north pole of another bar
magnet. Bring them closer together. What do you notice? How do these
magnets interact?
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
This time, let the north pole of the magnet approach the south pole of
another bar magnet. What do you observe? How do these magnets interact?
How do you take them apart?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
9
Read this:
An atom consists of three sub-atomic particles. The protons and neutrons are found
in the nucleus while the electron is orbiting around the nucleus. Why do the protons and
neutrons orbit instead of the electron? What keeps the nuclear particles together? The
protons repel each other because they carry like charges. Evidently, electric forces do not
hold the neutrons together. The gravitational force between the nucleus is too small to be
of importance. There is a third force that holds the nuclear particles together. It is called
nuclear force. The strong nuclear force is a force that holds protons and neutrons
together to form atomic nucleus. The weak nuclear force acts between the elementary
particles and is responsible for radioactive decay called beta decay. This force is involved
in nuclear reactions that occur in stars like the sun.
The activities you have just performed illustrate the different kinds of forces acting on
bodies.
In this activity, a book is at rest on top of a table. Without the table, the book will fall.
Therefore, it is the table that supports the book. How does the table support the book? It
is by applying an upward force on the book. This upward force exerted on the book by
the surface of a table is the normal force. It is always perpendicular to the surface.
A marble is rolling on a flat surface. How could the marble be stopped? It could be
stopped by applying a force opposite to the direction of motion. A marble moving to the
right can be stopped by pushing it to the left.
A book initially at rest on a flat surface can be set into motion by giving it a slight
push. As the book moves, it slows down and then stops. Just like the marble, the book
slowed down and eventually stopped. This means that there must be a force exerted on
the book opposite to the direction of motion. But what object could have exerted this
force? It is the flat surface. As the book slides, the surfaces of the book and the floor in
contact offer opposition to motion. This opposition is the force exerted on the book
opposite to the direction of motion. This force that opposes motion is called friction.
A small stone tied at the end of a string hangs at rest. What keeps the stone from
falling? It is the string. How could the string prevent the stone from falling? It is by pulling
the stone upward. This force exerted by a string on opposite sides is known as tension.
The tensions on opposite sides of a string are equal.
When a stone and a piece of paper are dropped from the same height, which
reaches the ground first? The stone reaches the ground first. Why? Is it because the
stone is heavier than the paper? No.
Both the stone and the paper are attracted to the ground. The force of attraction
exerted by the earth on objects in its surface is the gravitational force. However, as the
paper falls, there is another force that acts on it. This force exerted by the air on the
10
paper is opposite to the direction of motion just like friction. This force causes the paper
to be left behind by the stone. This force exerted by the air opposite in direction to the
motion of an object is known as air resistance.
The paper can be made to reach the ground at the same time as the stone by
crumpling it. Doing so reduces the air resistance on the paper.
When the compressed spring is released, a stone attached at its free end is thrown
forward. What made it possible for the stone to move forward? It is the force exerted on it
by the spring. The force exerted by a compressed or stretched spring is known as the
elastic force.
When a plastic comb is rubbed against your hair, it gains the ability to pick up bits of
acetate. This happens because of the transfer of charges between the plastic comb and
the hair. We say that the plastic comb is charged. The plastic comb interacts with small
pieces of acetate by attracting them. The force exerted between electrically charged
bodies is known as the electric force. Charges could either be positive or negative.
Charges with like sign repel each other; charges with unlike sign attract each other.
When the north pole of one magnet is brought close to the north pole of another
magnet, they repel each other. It will be harder to move them closer together as they
approach one another. However, when the north pole of a magnet is brought close to the
south pole of another magnet, they attract each other. This force exerted by the poles of
a magnet is known as magnetic force.
The activities you have just performed illustrate that forces could be classified into
contact and non–contact forces. The table below shows how these forces are classified.
11
Electric force – force exerted among charged particles.
Magnetic force – force exerted when magnets interact.
Nuclear force – force responsible for keeping the particles in the nucleus of an
atom intact.
Gravitational – force of attraction of two bodies because of their masses.
Weak force – force associated with the decay of the nucleus of an atom.
Lesson 3 Pressure
Whenever you listen to a weather forecast over the radio, you will usually hear the term
low-pressure associated with a coming typhoon. When inflating a bicycle tire, you make sure
that you inflate it with the right pressure because too much pressure on the tire might cause
it to burst. In some subdivisions where water supply is insufficient, the flow of water out of
the faucet is weak because of low water pressure. These instances show that we often
make use of the word ‘pressure’ in everyday conversations. But what exactly is pressure?
This lesson discusses the basic concepts about pressure as it is used in science. It will
describe how pressure is related to force and the surface area over which the force acts.
Materials: a wide pan filled with flour, about 5 cm deep, two identical rectangular
wooden blocks, a heavy stone
Procedure:
1. (a) Lay the two rectangular wooden blocks horizontally on the flour. What do
you notice about the depression on the flour made by the two blocks?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
12
(b) What happens to these depressions on the flour when you put a heavy
stone on top of one of the blocks?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
2. (a) Lay the first rectangular wooden block horizontally on the flour and the other
vertically. What do you notice about the depression made by these blocks on the
flour?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
(b) How do you keep the depression made by the blocks constant without changing
the orientation of the blocks?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
In the activity that you have just performed, the pressure exerted by the wooden blocks
is indicated by the depression made on the flour. The greater the pressure, the deeper is the
depression.
In activity 1, when the two wooden blocks were laid horizontally on the flour, they created
the same extent of depression. Why? It is because the two wooden blocks have exerted the
same force on the flour over the same surface area. The same force exerted on the flour
because the wooden blocks are identical, having equal weights. The surface area of the
application of the force is the same because the faces of the wooden blocks that are in
contact with the floor are the same. However, when a heavy stone is placed on top of one of
the blocks, the depression on the flour made by that block changes. What could be the
reason for this? Clearly, it is not the area of the application of the force because identical
faces of the blocks are still in contact with the flour. Therefore, it is the difference in the force
applied to the flour that caused the difference in the extent of the depression. With the
addition of the stone, the force applied by that block on the flour has increased. In turn, the
depression on the flour has also increased. This means that pressure exerted by the block
increases.
In activity 2, the two blocks differed in terms of extent of depression made on the flour.
The block oriented vertically made the greater depression on the flour than the one oriented
horizontally. This could not be attributed to the forces they exert on the flour because they
have equal weights. Instead, this could be attributed to the difference in the area of the block
in contact with the flour. The one oriented vertically has a smaller area of contact with the
flour than the one oriented horizontally. This allows the block oriented vertically to exert a
greater force per unit area on the flour.
13
The results of the activity you have just performed are summarized in the table below.
Based on the results of the activity, we can come up with two basic concepts about the
relation of pressure, force and area.
For the same force applied, pressure is inversely proportional to the surface
area where the force is applied. The greater the surface area, the smaller the
pressure; the smaller the surface area, the greater the pressure.
Therefore, in science, pressure is defined as the force exerted per unit area. In an
equation:
If force is expressed in newtons and the area in square meters, pressure is expressed in
pascals.
Instruction: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write the letter only.
1. If you blow more air into a balloon, what happens to the pressure?
a. increases
b. decreases
c. stays the same
2. For the same force applied, what happens to the pressure if the surface area where
the force acting is decreased?
a. increases
b. decreases
c. stays the same
3. What happens to the pressure if the force applied on the same surface area is
decreased?
a. increases
b. decreases
14
c. stays the same
4. In which case is the pressure exerted greater: object A with weight 10 N with surface
area in contact with table equal to 5 cm 2 or object B with weight 20 N with surface
area in contact with the table equal to 10 cm 2?
a. object A
b. object B
c. the same pressure is exerted
5. A balloon is squeezed by pushing on its opposite sides. How would this affect the air
pressure inside the balloon?
a. the air pressure increases
b. the air pressure decreases
c. the air pressure does not change
d. not enough information is provided
Let’s summarize
After going through all the activities in this module, let us summarize the basic concepts
about forces and how they affect objects.
1. A force is capable of changing the size and shape of an object, its speed, and its
direction of motion. The SI unit of the force is the Newton.
2. Forces are classified into contact and non–contact forces. Contact forces are
exerted on interacting bodies that are in physical contact with one another. Non –
contact forces or action at a distance forces are exerted when the interacting
bodies are not in physical contact with one another.
5. The gravitational force is the force of attraction between any two objects in the
universe.
6. Air resistance is the force exerted by the air opposite to the direction of the motion
of a falling object.
10. Nuclear force is a force that holds the nuclear particles together.
11. Pressure is defined as force exerted over a certain surface area. Its SI unit is the
Pascal. For the same force exerted, the greater the surface area, the smaller the
15
pressure. For the same surface area, the greater the force, the greater is the
pressure.
Posttest
Instructions: Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write the letter only on your
answer sheet.
3. A girl hangs at rest at the end of a rope tied to the ceiling. What provides the
support force for the girl?
a. tension
b. weight
c. friction
d. normal force
4. What will happen to a body made to slide across a frictionless level surface?
a. Its speed will increase.
b. Its speed will decrease
c. Its speed will remain the same.
d. It will stop.
6. A rock is hanging from a rope. What term refers to the force exerted by the rope
on the rock?
a. Elastic force
b. Friction
c. Normal force
d. Tension
16
8. When you rubbed a comb against your hair and put it near small bits of paper, the
paper clings to the comb. What force explains this observation?
a. weak force
b. electrical force
c. magnetic force
d. nuclear Force
9. What force is responsible for keeping an electron in its orbit as it goes around the
nucleus of an atom?
a. weak force
b. electrical force
c. magnetic force
d. nuclear Force
10. A ball is thrown upward. When it reaches its maximum height, it stops. What force
acts on the ball?
a. friction
b. weight
c. normal force
d. air resistance
11. Two identical cars A and B have the same mass. What can you say about the
pressure of the air in the tires if in car A the tires have a greater area of contact
with the ground compared to that of car B?
a. the air pressure of the tires in car A is greater than that in car B
b. the air pressure of the tires in car A is less than that in car B
c. the air pressure of the tires in car A is equal to that in car B
d. cannot be determined from the information given
12. Two identical glasses are filled with different substances. Glass A is filled with
water while glass B is filled with sand. Which of the two exerts a greater pressure
on the table?
a. Glass A
b. Glass B
c. Both A and B
17
Key to Answers
Pretest
1. a 6. a 11. a
2. d 7. d 12. a
3. a 8. a
4. d 9. a
5. b 10. c
Self–Test 1.1
4. A spring balance can be used to measure forces. The amount of force being
measured is proportional to the elongation of the spring. This elongation is calibrated
in Newtons.
5. a. change in shape
b. change in speed
c. change in direction
d. change in shape
e. all the changes listed are possible
Self–Test 2.1
Self–Test 3.1
1. a
2. a
3. b
4. c
5. a
18
Posttest
1. d 6. d 11. b
2. d 7. c 12. b
3. a 8. a
4. d 9. b
5. a 10. b
-End of Module-
Reference
Hewitt, P.G. (2000) Conceptual Physics: The high school physics program. New Jersey: Prentice – Hall Inc. New
Jersey
References:
19