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Newtonian Mechanics
of single particle

Reynold V. Luna
Physics Instructor, College of Science

Outline
• Newton's Laws of Motion
• Types of Forces
• Application of Newton’s Laws of Motion

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Particle and Reference Frame

Particle is an idealized body that
occupies only a single point in
space, has mass and has no internal
structure.
Rigid body is a collection of particles
linked by a light rigid framework.
Reference frame is a rigid body (e.g.
Earth) whose particles can be
labeled to create reference points.
It is simplified by introducing a
coordinate system (e.g. Cartesian).

Types of Motion
• Translational motion – linear motion (i.e. rectilinear and curvilinear motions)
• Rotational motion – rotary motion about an axis
• Rolling motion – combined rotation and translation
• Vibrational or Oscillatory motion – harmonic or periodic motion
• Brownian – chaotic or random motion

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Galileo’s two inclined planes experiment

Newton’s laws of motion

I. Every body continues in its state of rest, or
of uniform motion in a straight line,
unless it is compelled to change that state
by forces impressed upon it.
II. The change of motion is proportional to
the motive force impressed and is made in
the direction of the line in which that
force is impressed.
III. To every action there is always imposed
an equal reaction; or, the mutual actions
of two bodies upon each other are always
equal and directed to contrary parts.

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Interpretations of Newton’s Laws

Physical laws, postulates, operational definitions or empirical observations?

• I and II are physical laws;

1
• III is a consequence of I and II
• I provides the operational definition of zero force and
mass (amount of matter);
2 • II defines the momentum (quantity of motion) and
nonzero force; and
• III is a physical law

Fundamental concepts of Newton’s

system according to Einstein (1931)
• The concepts of absolute space and time
• The existence of invariable mass points
• Force via action at a distance
• A set of laws predicting the motion of mass points at any
future time

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When is Newton’s laws valid?

The law of inertia

There exists in nature a unique class of mutually unaccelerated
reference frames (the inertial frames) in which the First Law is true.

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Types of Inertia
Inertia of rest : It is the inability of a body to change its state of
rest by itself.
Inertia of translation : It is inability of a body to change its state
of uniform translational motion by itself.
Inertia of rotation : It is inability of a body to rotate by itself.

Net Force and Acceleration

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net
force on the object.

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Mass and acceleration

The acceleration of an object is
inversely proportional to the
object’s mass if the net force
remains fixed.

Newton’s second law of motion

• The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it, and
inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

⃗
⃑= = ⃑ ⟹ =

• The SI unit for force is the newton (N):

1 N = 1 kg·m/s2

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Systems of units
• We will use the SI system.
• In the British system, force
is measured in pounds,
distance in feet, and mass
in slugs.
• In the cgs system, mass is
in grams, distance in
centimeters, and force in
dynes.

Newton’s third law

• If you exert a force on a body, the body always exerts a force (the “reaction”)
back upon you.
• The figure shows “an action-reaction pair.”
• A force and its reaction force
have the same magnitude but
opposite directions. These
collinear forces act on
different bodies.

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What is a force?

• A force is a push or a pull.

• A force is an interaction between two objects or between an
object and its environment.
• A force is a vector quantity, with magnitude and direction.

TYPES of FORCES
Contact Non-Contact

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Fundamental Forces

Mass and Weight

• The weight of an object (on the Earth) is the
gravitational force that the Earth exerts on it.
• The weight W of an object of mass m is:
W = mg
• The value of g depends on altitude.
• On other planets, g will have an entirely
different value than on the Earth.

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Einstein’s Equivalence Principle (1916)

Inertial mass, of an object is a measure of its
resistance to motion.
Gravitational mass, of an object determines
the gravitational force between the object and
another object.
⃗=

⃗= ⃗
⃗= ⃗
The equivalence principle gives the equality:
=

Contact forces

Reaction forces Restoring force Retarding forces Applied forces

Normal Coulomb Stokes Newtonian

force Spring force Push
friction frictional force frictional force
Tensional
force Static Sliding
Pull
friction friction
Buoyant
force Rolling
friction

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Normal force
Normal force: When an object pushes on a surface, the surface pushes back
on the object perpendicular to the surface.

Tension
Tension: A pulling force exerted on an object by ideal strings (massless,
frictionless, unbreakable, and inextensible) and is always measured
parallel to the string on which it applies.

Example:
In a string or a chain, tension is only extensional.
In a rod or a stick, tension can be extensional or compressional or both.

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Coulomb’s Frictional Forces

Occurs when a surface resists sliding of an object and is parallel to the surface
• When a body rests or slides on a • Friction between two surfaces arises
surface, the friction force is parallel from interactions between molecules
to the surface. on the surfaces.

Static friction followed by Kinetic Friction

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Static Friction
Static friction acts when there is no relative motion between bodies.
• The static friction force can vary between zero and its maximum value:
⃗ ≤−

Laws of Limiting friction (maximum static friction, , )

1. The magnitude of limiting frictional force is proportional to the normal
force at the contact surface.
2. The magnitude of limiting frictional force is independent of area of
contact between the surfaces.

Kinetic (Sliding) Friction

Kinetic friction acts when a body slides over a surface.
• The kinetic friction force is
⃗ =−

Rolling Friction
The opposing force that comes into existence when one object rolls over the
surface of another object is known as rolling friction.

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Some approximate coefficient of friction

Materials Materials
Steel on steel 0.74 0.57 Glass on glass 0.94 0.40
Aluminum on steel 0.61 0.47 Copper on glass 0.68 0.53
Copper on steel 0.53 0.36 Teflon on Teflon 0.04 0.04
Brass on steel 0.51 0.44 Teflon on steel 0.04 0.04
Zinc on cast iron 0.85 0.21 Rubber on dry 1.0 0.8
concrete
Copper on cast 1.05 0.29 Rubber on wet 0.30 0.25
iron concrete

Fluid Resistance and Terminal Speed

• The fluid resistance or drag force
on a body depends on the
speed of the body.
gas (air): =
liquid: =

• A falling body reaches its terminal

speed when the resisting force
equals the weight of the body.

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Pseudo forces
Fictitious, Phantom, d’Alembert or Inertial forces – forces without material source

1. Centrifugal force – is the apparent force that draws a rotating body away
from the center of rotation. It is caused by the inertia of the body as the
body's path is continually redirected. It acts outwards in the radial
direction and is proportional to the distance of the body from the axis of
the rotating frame.
2. Coriolis force – acts in a direction perpendicular to the rotation axis and
to the velocity of the body in the rotating frame and is proportional to
the object's speed in the rotating frame.
3. Euler force (azimuthal force) – is the fictitious tangential force that is felt
as a result of any radial acceleration.

Applying Newton’s laws of motion

Free Body Diagram (FBD)
• A single body or a subsystem of bodies isolated from its surroundings
showing all the external forces acting on it is its free body diagram.
Steps for Free Body Diagram
Step 1: Identify the object or system and isolate it from other objects clearly,
specify its boundary.
Step 2 : First draw non-contact external force in the diagram. Generally it is
weight.
Step 3 : Draw contact forces which acts at the boundary of the object or
system. Contact forces are normal, friction, tension and applied force.

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Tension in an elevator cable

An elevator and its load have a
combined mass of 800 kg. The
elevator is initially moving
downward at 10.0 m/s; it slows
to a stop with constant
acceleration in a distance of 25.0
m. What is the tension T in the
supporting cable while the
elevator is being brought to rest?

A constant horizontal force of 40 N acts on a body on a smooth

horizontal surface. The body starts from rest and is observed to
move 100 m in 5 s
a) What is the mass of the body?
b) If the force ceases to act at the end 5s, how far will the body
move in the next 5 s?

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Simple Atwood’s machine

:
A 0.07 kg body and 0.05 kg
body are suspended at the
end of the cord that passes
over a mass less, friction less
pulley as shown on the right.
:
a) What is the acceleration of
the system?
b) What is the tension in the
chord?

A 50 kg block rest on a rough horizontal floor. The coefficient of

kinetic friction between the block and the floor is 0.25. If a
horizontal force is 180N acts on the block for 3s, find the velocity
of the block at the end of that time.

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Quantity Operational Definition

Torque (Moment of Force) ⃑≡ ⃗× ⃗ = sin
Angular Momentum ≡ ⃗ × ⃗ = sin
SI Unit: newton·meter (N·m) for torque
kg·m2/s or J·s for angular momentum

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Sample Problem

A 40-g cylinder is 0.15 m in radius and 0.05 m in length. A string

is wound around it and a force is applied to cause its angular
acceleration of 5.0 rad/s2. Determine the net torque acting on it.

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∑ ⃗=0 ∑⃗=0

Equilibrium

Mechanical Thermal Chemical Radiation

Static Dynamic

Static Equilibrium
If an object in static equilibrium is displaced slightly, three
outcomes are possible:
A. Unstable equilibrium – the
object moves even farther
from its original position;
B. Stable equilibrium – the
object returns to its original
position; and
C. Neutral equilibrium – the
object remains in its new
position

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Stability and Balance

An object whose center of
gravity is above its base
(area) of support will be
stable if a vertical line
projected downward from
the center of gravity (CG)
falls within the base (area)
of support.

Conditions for Static Equilibrium

First Condition: ∑ ⃗=0

Sample problem:
Calculate the tensions and in the two
cords that are connected to the vertical
cord supporting the 200-kg chandelier.
Ignore the mass of the cords.

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Conditions for Static Equilibrium

Second Condition: ∑⃗=0

Sample problem:
A uniform meter stick supported at the 25-cm mark is in
equilibrium when a 1-kg rock is suspended at the 0-cm end. What
is the mass of the rock?

Forces on a beam and supports

A uniform 1500-kg beam, 20.0 m long,
supports a 15,000-kg printing press
5.0 m from the right support column.
Calculate the force on each of the
vertical support columns.

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Ladder
A 5.0-m-long ladder leans against a
wall at a point 4.0 m above a
cement floor as shown. The ladder
is uniform and has mass = 12kg.
Assuming the wall is frictionless,
but the floor is not, determine the
forces exerted on the ladder by the
floor and by the wall.

References
1. Chow, T. (2013) Classical Mechanics, 2e, Taylor & Francis Group, LLC, CRC Press
2. Kleppner, D. and Kolenkow, R. (2010), An Introduction to Mechanics, Cambridge University
Press.
3. Strauch, D. (2009), Classical Mechanics, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.
4. Gregory, D. (2006) Classical Mechanics: An Undergraduate Text, Cambridge University Press
5. Fowles, G. and Cassiday G. (2005) Analytical Mechanics, 7e, Brooks/Cole Thomson Learning
6. Thornton, S. and Marion J. (2004) Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems 5e, Brooks/Cole
Thomson Learning
7. Young, H., Freedman, R. and Ford, A. (2016) University Physics with Modern Physics, 14e,
Pearson

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