Abstract
In this chapter we will show you that the acceleration of an object is related to the forces acting on the object. In order to predict the motion, we need to: (i) Find what forces are acting on an object; (ii) Introduce quantitative models for the forces—we need numbers for the forces in order to have numbers for the acceleration; (iii) Determine the acceleration from the forces using Newton’s second law of motion; (iv) “Solve” the motion from the differential equations of motion and the initial conditions. We will address these points in detail: First we show how to identify the forces acting on an object. Then we introduce Newton’s second law that relates forces to acceleration. Finally, we introduce models for some of the most common forces in the macroscopic world.
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Notes
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You will see that we need to include the Earth, since the gravitational force on the ball comes from the interaction with the whole Earth, and not just with the floor.
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You should, however, be aware that in some cases, this may mean that you have made an error in your assumptions, because some forces, such as the normal force due to a contact, cannot be negative unless the objects are glued together.
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© 2015 Springer International Publishing Switzerland
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Malthe-Sorenssen, A. (2015). Forces in One Dimension. In: Elementary Mechanics Using Matlab. Undergraduate Lecture Notes in Physics. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19587-2_5
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-19587-2_5
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Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-19586-5
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-19587-2
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