LAWS OF MOTION

• Dynamics is the branch of physics in which we study

the motion of a body by taking into consideration the
cause i.e., force which produces the motion.
• Force:
Force is an external cause in the form of push or pull,
which produces or tries to produce motion in a body at
rest, or stops/tries to stop a moving body or
changes/tries to change the direction of motion of the
body.
• The inherent property, with which a body resists any
change in its state of motion is called inertia. Heavier
the body, the inertia is more and lighter the body, lesser
the inertia.
• Law of inertia states that a body has the inability to
change its state of rest or uniform motion (i.e., a motion
with constant velocity) or direction of motion by itself.
• Newton’s Laws of Motion:
Law 1. A body will remain at rest or continue to move
with uniform velocity unless an external force is applied
to it.
First law of motion is also referred to as the ‘Law of
inertia’. It defines inertia, force and inertial frame of
reference.
A frame of referent, e is known as an inertial frame it,
within it, all accelerations of any particle are caused by
the action of ‘real forces’ on that particle.
When we talk about accelerations produced by
‘fictitious’ or ‘pseudo’ forces, the frame of reference is a
non-inertial one.
Law 2. When an external force is applied to a body of
constant mass the force produces acceleration, which is
directly proportional to the force and inversely
proportional to the mass of the body.

Law 3. “To every action there is equal and opposite

reaction force”. When a body A exerts a force on another
body B, B exerts an equal and opposite force on A.
• Linear Momentum:
The linear momentum of a body is defined as the
product of the mass of the body and its velocity.
• Impulse:
Forces acting for short duration are called impulsive
forces. Impulse is defined as the product of force and
the small time interval for which it acts. It is given by

Impulse of a force is a vector quantity and its SI unit is

1 Nm.
— If force of an impulse is changing with time, then the
impulse is measured by finding the area bound by
force-time graph for that force.
— Impulse of a force for a given time is equal to the
total change in momentum of the body during the given
time. Thus, we have

• Law of Conservation of Momentum:

The total momentum of an isolated system of particles
is conserved.
In other words, when no external force is applied to the
system, its total momentum remains constant.
• Recoiling of a gun, flight of rockets and jet planes
are some simple applications of the law of
conservation of linear momentum.:

• Concurrent Forces and Equilibrium:

“A group of forces which are acting at one point are
called concurrent forces.”
Concurrent forces are said to be in equilibrium if there
is no change in the position of rest or the state of
uniform motion of the body on which these concurrent
forces are acting.
For concurrent forces to be in equilibrium, their
resultant force must be zero. In case of three concurrent
forces acting in a plane, the body will be in equilibrium
if these three forces may be completely represented by
three sides of a triangle taken in order. If number of
concurrent forces is more than three, then these forces
must be represented by sides of a closed polygon in
order for equilibrium.

• Commonly Used Forces:

 (i) Weight of a body. It is the force with which earth
attracts a body towards its centre. If M is mass of body
and g is acceleration due to gravity, weight of the body
is Mg in vertically downward direction.
(ii) Normal Force. If two bodies are in contact a contact
force arises, if the surface is smooth the direction of
force is normal to the plane of contact. We call this force
as Normal force.

Example. Let us consider a book resting on the table. It

is acted upon by its weight in vertically downward
direction and is at rest. It means there is another force
acting on the block in opposite direction, which
balances its weight. This force is provided by the table
and we call it as normal force.
(iii) Tension in string. Suppose a block is hanging from
a string. Weight of the block is acting vertically
downward but it is not moving, hence its weight is
balanced by a force due to string. This force is called
‘Tension in string’. Tension is a force in a stretched
string. Its direction is taken along the string and away
from the body under consideration.
• Simple Pulley:
Consider two bodies of masses m1 and m2 tied at the
ends of an in extensible string, which passes over a
light and friction less pulley. Let m1 > m2. The heavier
body will move downwards and the lighter will move
upwards. Let a be the common acceleration of the
system of two bodies, which is given by
• Apparent Weight and Actual Weight:
— ‘Apparent weight’ of a body is equal to its ‘actual
weight’ if the body is either in a state of rest or in a
state of uniform motion.
— Apparent weight of a body for vertically upward
accelerated motion is given as
Apparent weight =Actual weight + Ma = M (g + a)
— Apparent weight of a body for vertically downward
accelerated motion is given as
Apparent weight = Actual weight Ma = M (g – a).
• Friction:
The opposition to any relative motion between two
surfaces in contact is referred to as friction. It arises
because of the ‘inter meshing’ of the surface
irregularities of the two surfaces in contact.
• Static and Dynamic (Kinetic) Friction:
The frictional forces between two surfaces in contact (i)
before and (ii) after a relative motion between them has
started, are referred to as static and dynamic friction
respectively. Static friction is always a little more than
dynamic friction. The magnitude of kinetic frictional
force is also proportional to normal force.

• Limiting Frictional Force

This frictional force acts when body is about to move.
This is the maximum frictional force that can exist at
the contact surface. We calculate its value using laws of
friction.
Laws of Friction:
(i) The magnitude of limiting frictional force is
proportional to the normal force at the contact
surface.

(ii) The magnitude of limiting frictional force is

independent of area of contact between the surfaces.
• Coefficient of Friction:
The coefficient of friction (μ) between two surfaces is the
ratio of their limiting frictional force to the normal force
between them, i.e.,

• Angle of Friction:
It is the angle which the resultant of the force of limiting
friction F and the normal reaction R makes with the
direction of the normal reaction. If θ is the angle of
friction, we have

• Angle of Repose:
Angle of repose (α) is the angle of an inclined plane with
the horizontal at which a body placed over it just begins
to slide down without any acceleration. Angle of repose
is given by α = tan-1 (μ)
• Motion on a Rough Inclined Plane:
Suppose a motion up the plane takes place under the
action of pull P acting parallel to the plane.
• Centripetal Force:
Centripetal force is the force required to move a body
uniformly in a circle. This force acts along the radius
and towards the centre of the circle. It is given by
where, v is the linear velocity, r is the radius of circular
path and ω is the angular velocity of the body.
• Centrifugal Force:
Centrifugal force is a force that arises when a body is
moving actually along a circular path, by virtue of
tendency of the body to regain its natural straight line
path.
The magnitude of centrifugal force is same as that of
centripetal force.

• Motion in a Vertical Circle:

The motion of a particle in a horizontal circle is different
from the motion in vertical circle. In horizontal circle,
the motion is not effected by the acceleration due to
gravity (g) whereas in the motion of vertical circle, the
motion is not effected by the acceleration due to gravity
(g) whereas in the motion of vertical circle, the value of
‘g’ plays an important role, the motion in this case does
not remain uniform. When the particle move up from its
lowest position P, its speed continuously decreases till it
reaches the highest point of its circular path. This is
due to the work done against the force of gravity. When
the particle moves down the circle, its speed would keep
on increasing.

Let us consider a particle moving in a circular vertical

path of radius V and centre o tide with a string. L be the
instantaneous position of the particle such that

Here the following forces act on the particle of mass ‘m’.

(i) Its weight = mg (verticaly downwards).
(ii) The tension in the string T along LO.

We can take the horizontal direction at the lowest point

‘p’ as the position of zero gravitational potential energy.
Now as per the principle of conservation of energy,
From this relation, we can calculate the tension in the
string at the lowest point P, mid-way point and at the
highest position of the moving particle.
Case (i): At the lowest point P, θ = 0°
 When the particle completes its motion along the
vertical circle, it is referred to as “Looping the Loop” for
this the minimum speed at the lowest position must be
√5gr
• IMPORTANT TABLES: