Sir Isaac Newton (1643-1727) an

English scientist and mathematician

famous for his discovery of the law of
gravity also discovered the three laws of
motion. He published them in his book
Philosophiae Naturalis Principia
Mathematica (mathematic principles of
natural philosophy) in 1687. Today
these laws are known as Newton’s Laws
of Motion and describe the motion of all
Issac Newton
objects on the scale we experience in
（1643－1727）
our everyday lives.
“If I have ever made any valuable discoveries, it has
been owing more to patient attention, than to any
other talent.”
 1 Newton’s first laws of motion
Any body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion along
a straight line unless it is driven to change that state by
nonzero external net force impressed on it.(the law of inertia)
 
F  0， v  C
2 inertial and non-inertial frames
Newton’s three laws are not true in all reference frames, but
we can always find reference frames in which they are valid.
Such frames are called inertial reference frames, or simply
inertial frames. Frames which Newton’s laws do not hold are
called non-inertial frames.

2
3 Newton’s second law of motion
In modern terms, Newton’s second law of motion can be
summarized as the rate of change of linear momentum
which is directly proportional to the force applied and
takes place in the straight line in which that force acts.
 dp d(mv )
dv 
F m  ma

 
dt

F   p  mv
dt dt
合外力
when v  c
mC

3
3-1 in rectangular coordinate system
 dv y 
 dv dv x  dvz 
F m m i m j m k
dt dt dt dt
   
F  max i  may j  maz k

Fx  max
Fy  may
Fz  ma z

4
3-2 in a natural coordinate system
    dv  v 
2
F  ma  m(at  an )  m et  m en
dt r
dv ds2
Ft  m  m 2
dt　 dt 
a
v2
Fn  m 
r en 
et
A

5
4 Newton’s third law of motion
By experiment that when one body exerts a force on a
second body the second always exerts a force back on
the first. Furthermore we find the forces always to be
equal in magnitude and opposite direction.
 
F  F 
An action   A reaction
F F
Action and reaction are simultaneous in time, equal in
magnitude and opposite in direction of the same
straight line. They are caused by the same mechanism
but act on different body.
6
Example1:


FT

FT '
m
m 
P

P'
earth
7
5 Applications of Newton’s laws of motion
5-1 problem-solving strategy for Newtonian laws
(1) Determine all the objects of interest
(2) Separate each object in the problem as a single particle and draw
a free-body diagram to show all the forces acting on that body.
(3) Analyze the possible moving states of all objects and the
relationship between these motions and assume some unknowns.
(4) Choose a suitable inertial frame of reference with the positive
directions for coordinate axes.
(5) Use the Newton’s second law for each body to list equations in
components with all forceson the left and the left and the product
of mass and acceleration on the right. Force components in the
positive direction are taken to be positive, and those in the
opposite direction are negative.
(6) Algebraically solve these equations to find accelerations and
unknown forces instead of using numbers ahead of the analytical
results.
(7) As always, check the solution to see if it is reasonable and discuss
different situations as many as possible by analyzing or putting
numbers into the algebraic results.
Using Newton’s 2nd Law to Solve Problems
1.Identify all forces acting on the object
-Pushes or Pulls -Frictional forces -Tension in a string
-Gravitational Force (or weight = mg where g is 9.8 m/s2)
- “Normal forces” (one object touching another).
2.Draw a “Freebody Diagram”
-draw the object, show all forces acting on that object as vectors
pointing in the correct direction. Show the direction of the
acceleration.
3.Chose a coordinate system.
4.Translate the freebody diagram into an algebraic expression based
on Newton’s second law.
Consider an elevator moving downward and speeding up with an
acceleration of 2 m/s2. The mass of the elevator is 100 kg. Ignore
air resistance.What is the tension in the cable?

1.Identify Forces: Tension in cable, weight of the elevator

2.Draw freebody diagram
T
a
W=Fg earthelevator.

3.Chose coordinate system: Let up be the +y direction and down –y.

Then :
4.Translate the FBD into an algebraic expression. T-W = m(-a) so
T-(100 kg)(9.8 m/s2) = (100 kg)(-2 m/s2)

Note: No negative sign

Example 1: A small ball of mass m is attached to the end of a cord of
length R, which rotates about a fixed point O in vertical circle under
the influence of gravitational force. (initial speed v0)
(a) Determine the tension in the cord at any angle .
(b) When the ball starts motion in the bottom of the circle, in order to
pass point B which is the top of the circle, find the minimum value
B
of initial velocity v0.
Solution；
Reference frame: the Earth.
Coordinate system: natural coordinate.
Tangential: mg sin   m dv (1)
dt
2
Normal： v
T  mg cos  m (2) v0
R
d
Circular motion: v  R  R (3)
dt
Change the independent variable t to .

dv d dv v dv
mg sin   m  m m
d dt d R d
v 
v0
mvdv   mgR sin  d
0

1 2 1 2 conservation of
mv  mv0  (mgR cos  mgR)
2 2 mechanical energy.

mv02  mgR(2  3cos )

T Variable force
R
At the point B, T0, =180

mv02  mgR(2  3) v0  5gR

0
R
Velocity-dependent resistive forces

1. The medium exerts a resistive force on the object moving

through it.

2. The magnitude depends on the relative speed between the object

and the medium. The direction is opposite the direction of motion
of the object relative to the medium.

3. Two simplification models:

The force is proportional to the velocity. For low speed, small
objects
The force is proportional to the square of the speed. For large
objects
Example 2: In viscous fluid, moving body experiences a
resistive force R exerted by the fluid. At low speed:
R  bv Variable force
A ball of mass m is released from rest in a liquid. Show
the speed of the ball at time t.
Solution: Choose down to be positive.

dv
mg  bv  m
dt
b
v dv t
g v
0 b
  dt
0 ln m b
 t
g v g m
m
v
mg
b
1  e  bt / m
  vT 1  e t /
 vT : terminal velocity;
 : time constant.
 v
mg
b
1  e  bt / m
  vT 1  e t /

1
When t , v  vT (1  )
e
1
(1  )  0.632
e
  m/b reflects how fast the body approaches vT

Check the result:

The terminal velocity can also be obtained by mg=bv

mg
vT 
b
 Example 3: The object A (mass m) and a spring (coefficient k) are
connected by a light string that passes over a frictionless light pulley.
The object is released from rest. At this time, the spring remains the
 
original length. Find a and v when the object falls x.
k
Solution:
(1)coordinate: the released place is origin.
Down is positive direction. T

So: x0=0, v0=0, T=kx Am o

mg – kx=ma mg
k
a  g  x x
m
★ a≠const, variable force
(2) Find v(x)
dv k a ( x)  v( x)
av g x
dx m dv
v x a ( x)  v
 
k
 vdv  ( g  x) dx dx
0 0 m
k 2
 v  2 gx  x
m
Attention:
(1) wrong
k 2
v  v0  2ax
2
2
 v  2ax  2 gx  2 x
m
(2) If the force is variable, we use integral.
Example 4: A pulley system is shown in Figure. The
following quantities are known: (1) a — the
acceleration of pulley A; (2) m1 — the mass of block 1;
(3) m2 — the mass of block 2. The pulleys are
A x
modeled as massless and frictionless.
Determine the accelerations a1 and a2 of block 1 and 2.
Solution: Choose up to be positive.
m1
m1: (1)
T  m1 g  m1a1 m2

m2: (2)
x1 X
T  m2 g  m2 a2 x2

Unknown: T, a1, a2.

Relationship between m1 and m2: the length l of rope
which passes over pulley A is constant.
l   R  ( X  x1 )  ( X  x2 )  constant 2 X  x1  x2  0
2a  a1  a2 (3)
Example 5: An amusement park ride consists of a large vertical
cylinder that spins about its axis fast enough that any person inside
is held up against the wall when the floor drops away. The
coefficient of static friction between a person and the wall is  s.
The radius of cylinder is R. (a) What minimum rotational speed is
necessary to prevent falling? (b) How many revolutions per second
does the cylinder make?

fs

mg
 v2
Horizontal: N m
R fs
gR
Vertical: f s  mg  0 v
s N

f s  s N mg

Take: s=0.4, R=2m.

 v 1 g
n    0.56 revolution/s
2 2 R 2 s R
Example 6: The mass of a rope is M and the length is L. One end
of the rope is fixed on the vertical axis. The rope rotates about
the axis in the horizontal frictionless plane and the magnitude
of angular velocity is ω. The rope remains uncurved. The
gravity exerted on the rope is neglectable. Show the tension
T(r) on the rope.


Solution: Consider an element of rope, mass dm ,length dr

v2
T( r )  T( r  dr )  dm
r

M dm
T  (T  dT )  dr  2 r
L
M r
dT  dr  2 r
L
0 L M 2
T( r )
dT  
r
  rdr
L
M 2 2 2
T( r )   (L  r )
2L