5.

Applications of the Laws of Force and Motion

Having studied the laws of motion and the two
important laws of force, you are ready to apply them to
a variety of situations. We will describe a few examples
in this chapter just to get you started. In each case you
should note the relationship between the forces acting
on an object and the acceleration that results. Then you
might focus on the way the acceleration determines the
subsequent motion of the object. As you gain the abili-
ty to relate these ideas, you should be able to explain a
wide range of phenomena.

Gravitational Acceleration

We have seen that an object near the earth’s surface

experiences a downward force, called its weight, due to
its attraction to the earth. The strength of the force is
proportional to the object’s mass, so the acceleration it
causes is the same as that for any other object at the same
location. The force does not depend on the object’s
motion and it changes only slightly as the object moves
either closer to or farther from the center of the earth.
These small changes can often be neglected—as we will
do—when considering the motion of falling objects.
Thus, when gravity is the only important force, the
object moves under the influence of an unchanging
downward force and therefore has an unchanging down-
ward acceleration. It is instructive to consider some of
the different kinds of motion that can result.
First, suppose an object such as a baseball is
dropped from a great height. Its speed increases steadi-
ly as it falls. After 1 second, its speed is 35 kilome- Figure 5.1. What does not change as the ball falls?
ters/hour (about 22 miles/hour); after 2 second, it is 70
kilometers/hour; after 3 seconds, 105 kilometers/hour;
and after 4 seconds, 140 kilometers/hour. Do you see reduced to 75 kilometers/hour; after 3 seconds, 40 kilo-
what it means when we say that the ball has an unchang- meters/hour; and after 4 seconds, 5 kilometers/hour. Do
ing acceleration? Each second the speed increases by you see what it means to say that the acceleration of the
35 kilometers/hour whether it is the first second, the ball is the same as when it was dropped? Each second the
fifth, or any other. No matter what the speed at any speed changes by 35 kilometers/hour, the same rate as
time, the speed will be 35 kilometers/hour greater one before. Now the speed decreases rather than increases.
second later (Fig. 5.1). This is just what we would expect in a case in which the
Next, imagine throwing the ball straight up with an applied force, gravity, directly opposes the initial motion
initial speed of 145 kilometers/hour (about 90 of the ball. The amount of acceleration (the rate at which
miles/hour). Instead of speeding up, the ball becomes speed changes) is the same as before, because the strength
slower as it rises. After 1 second, its speed is 110 kilome- of the gravitational force does not depend on whether the
ters/hour. At the end of another second the speed has been ball is going up or down (Fig. 5.2).

37

Figure 5.2. The acceleration of a rising ball is the same
as that of a falling ball. Do you see why?
Figure 5.3. Even this ball has the same acceleration as
the other two.
38
Finally, suppose the ball is thrown horizontally
instead of vertically, with an initial speed of 100 kilo-
meters/hour. You know that it will follow a curved path
as it falls. The motion seems more complicated than
before, but it is easily described by separating its two
components, horizontal and vertical. At the end of the
first second, the ball is still moving horizontally with a
speed of 100 kilometers/hour, but in addition, it is
falling with a vertical speed of 35 kilometers/hour.
After another second, the downward speed has
increased to 70 kilometers/hour, while the horizontal
motion remains unchanged. In fact, the horizontal
motion never changes and the downward speed contin-
ues to increase at the rate of 35 kilometers/hour every
second. Do you see what it means to say that the accel-
eration of the ball is the same as before? The downward
motion is, in fact, the same as if the ball had no initial
motion at all. The ball falls at the same rate as when it
was dropped (Fig. 5.3).
We have presumed in the foregoing description that
air resistance is not important and that gravity is the only
significant force acting on the ball. If air resistance is
important, as it would be for a falling feather or piece of
paper, the situation will not be as we have described.
However, if these objects fall in a vacuum their accelera-
tion is the same as that of any other falling object (Fig. 5.4).
Figure 5.4. A piece of paper and a rock fall together in
the absence of air resistance.
Gravitational force and acceleration change slight-
ly from place to place near the surface of the earth. They
are about 1/2 of 1 percent larger at the earth’s poles than
at the equator and slightly smaller (about 1/30 of 1 per-
cent per kilometer) at higher elevations. These changes
occur because the gravitational attraction decreases

Figure 5.5. Not all points on the earth’s surface are the
same distance from its center. How does this affect the
gravitational acceleration?
with increasing distance between the accelerating object
and the earth’s center. Since the earth is not a perfect
sphere, its poles are about 21 km closer to its center than
are sea level points on the equator (Fig. 5.5).
Forces within Matter
We now turn our attention to some simple manifes-
tations of the electrical interaction. First of all, the elec-
trical force provides the glue that holds matter together.
Adjacent opposite charges attract each other. The indi-
vidual charges are quite small, but they are close togeth-
er and there are a lot of pairs. Thus, the resulting forces
can be quite large. It is these forces that must be over-
come when, for example, you tear a piece of paper, bend
a piece of metal, dissolve some sugar in a glass of water,
or melt an ice cube (Fig. 5.6).
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-
Figure 5.6. An arrangement of electrical charges that
could hold the associated matter together.
Each of the similar charges in materials is repelled
from the others—positive from positive and negative
from negative. The net force on a particular particle is
the sum of all the forces acting on it, apparently all in
different directions. The calculation of the total force
on an individual particle would be a fairly complicated
application of the Electric Force Law.
We do know, however, that the net force on any
particle inside the material is zero when the material is
39
undisturbed (because the particle is presumably at rest
and not accelerating). When we try to stretch the mate-
rial, it pulls back on the stretching force. The particles
are a little farther apart than before, and the electrical
attractions win over the repulsions. The charged parti-
cles resist being pulled apart.
Materials also resist being compressed. An inward
force causes the charged particles to come closer togeth-
er; their orderly arrangement is disturbed. Now the
repulsions between like charges dominate, and the
charged particles resist being pushed closer together.
Contact Forces
The forces due to interactions between objects that
touch each other can be understood in the same way as
the forces within materials that resist changes in size or
shape. The electrical charges near the surface of each
object are interacting with those of the other object. The
net result is usually a repulsion due to the interactions of
boundary electrons, but may also be an attraction if the
approaching charged particles get close enough.
Consider a simple example. Suppose you lay a
book on a table. A downward gravitational force is on
the book, but the book is not accelerating. Why not? As
the electric charges of the book approach the table, they
are repelled by the electric charges in the table surface.
The table literally pushes up on the book via the electri-
cal interaction! This upward electrical force on the
book just balances the downward gravitational force,
and the book moves no farther.
Friction results from the same kind of interaction.
Adjacent surfaces are microscopically quite uneven (Fig.
5.7). These “bumps” and “hollows” scrape across each
other when the surfaces slide. The repulsion between
adjacent similar charges is what we call friction.
All contact forces occur in this way. If you kick a
rock, the charges in the rock repel the charges in your
shoe. Charges in your shoe repel charges in your toe,
and these forces initiate internal electrical interactions
that finally cause your brain to register pain—all due to
the electrical interaction.
Finding Forces
The greatest difficulty in using the laws of motion is
correctly identifying the forces that act on a particular
object. Sometimes we do not notice one or more of the
important forces that are acting; sometimes we imagine
forces that are not really present. All the interactions in
which an object participates (and thus all the forces act-
ing on the object) can be identified by isolating the par-
ticular object in your mind and asking three questions:
1. Does the object participate in a significant grav-
itational interaction? If so, there will be a gravita-
 After a little practice, anyone can use these questions
to save a lot of guessing about forces and interactions.
Remember the rule: All forces come from interactions,
and only the gravitational and electromagnetic interac-
tions govern the motions of all objects we ordinarily deal
with. (We are still omitting the nuclear interactions that
do not affect the motion of large-scale objects.)

Applications Involving More Than One Force

We next turn our attention to some examples in

which two or more forces act on the object of interest.
First, imagine yourself standing on a normal floor. What
forces act on your body? To find them, ask the questions
suggested in the previous section. Is there an important
gravitational interaction? Yes, the resulting force on
your body is your weight, a downward force. Is there an
important long-range electromagnetic interaction?
Probably not. What does your body touch? Only the
floor. (We are neglecting the interaction with the air,
which may be important in some circumstances.) What
kind of force does the floor exert on your body? An
upward force equal in strength to your weight. How do
we know? Because your body is not accelerating, we
know that the total force on it must be zero. Since there
is a downward force, we know that this must be balanced
by an upward force. The only possible interaction that
could provide such a force is the contact interaction
between your body and the floor (Fig. 5.8).

Figure 5.7. Upper: Scanning electron micrograph of

the surface of a steel surgical scalpel. Lower: Scanning
electron micrograph of an obsidian blade.
Magnification is ! 1500 in both micrographs.
(Courtesy of W. M. Hess)

tional force, its weight, usually directed toward the

earth’s center.
2. Are there charged objects or current-carrying
conductors close enough to be important? If so, the
object under study may participate in a significant
long-range electromagnetic interaction, depending
on its own charge and current.
Figure 5.8. How do we know that the “floor force” on
3. What does the object touch? Electrical contact
you has the same strength as your weight?
forces will occur at each contact point. The two
surfaces usually will repel each other and, in addi-
Notice that we use the First and not the Third Law
tion, friction will be present in many situations.
of Motion in this discussion. We know that these two
forces have the same strength, because we know that

40
your body is not accelerating. These two forces do not
result from a single interaction, so the Third Law says
nothing about their relative strength. There are, in fact,
two interactions here: the gravitational interaction
between you and the earth and the contact-electrical
interaction between your feet and the floor. Thus, there
are four forces altogether, only two of which act on your
body. In addition, your feet push downward on the floor
and your body pulls upward on the earth; however,
these two forces act on other objects and thus do not
concern us as we analyze your motion.
The two forces on you do not always have the same
strength. Suppose you wish to jump. To do so, you
must accelerate, and to accelerate, one of the forces act-
ing on you must change. It is hard to change your
weight, since this depends only on your mass, the mass
of the earth, and your position. But you can easily
change the upward force exerted by the floor. You just
flex your leg muscles and push harder on the floor. The
floor, acting in accord with the Third Law of Motion,
then pushes harder on you than before. This force is
now stronger than your weight, the total force on you is
no longer zero, and you accelerate upward (Fig. 5.9). If
your feet leave the floor, the force exerted by the floor
immediately becomes zero. (Remember, this force is
due to an interaction that depends on the floor being in
contact with your feet.) The gravitational force alone
then determines your subsequent motion. Your speed
decreases, you stop, and then you fall back to earth
where the contact interaction provides a force that
decreases your speed again to zero.
Figure 5.9. What force accelerates you when you
jump?
An object falling through air or some other fluid
illustrates a slightly different point. When released, the
speed of the object at first increases in the way we
41
described earlier. As it falls, however, the rate of
change of speed decreases. The speed does not increase
as fast as it would if gravity were the only force acting
on it. Before long, depending on its shape, size, and
weight, the object reaches its maximum speed and then
continues to fall at that speed until it hits the ground.
We can identify the forces acting on such a falling
object in the same way as before. There is an unchang-
ing downward gravitational force and an upward con-
tact force, a frictional force, due to the interaction
between the object and the fluid through which it
moves. At first this fluid drag is small and the object
accelerates in response to the gravitational force. As the
speed increases, the drag becomes greater. The net
force is smaller than before and so the acceleration is
also reduced. Finally, if the object goes fast enough, the
fluid drag force becomes as strong as the gravitational
force. The total force is then zero. The resulting accel-
eration also is zero and the object continues to fall with-
out further change in its speed (Fig. 5.10). It is impor-
tant that you remind yourself that an object like this,
which is moving in a straight line with unchanging
speed, is not accelerating. Since it is not accelerating,
the First Law of Motion tells us that the net force on the
object is zero. In this case, as in many others, however,
forces are acting on the object. They just balance each
other, so that their net effect is the same as if neither one
were present.
Figure 5.10. Why does a parachute help when you fall?
Which force is larger after your speed no longer increases?
Circular Motion
Imagine any object traveling in a circle at constant
speed. It might be a planet moving around the sun, a
ball twirled on the end of a string, a child on a
merry-go-round, or a car turning a circular corner. We
know from the discussion in Chapter 3 that there must
be a net sideways force on each of these objects, since
their direction is changing and their speed is not. The
force must act toward the center of the circle, because
the object constantly turns that way.
The directions of the forces in these situations are
sometimes difficult to visualize. Perhaps it would help
to start by imagining how your object would move if
there were no force at all. It would travel in a straight
line. The kind of force needed to change its motion
from a straight line to a circle is a sideways force, push-
ing or pulling the object toward the center of the circle.
Try to imagine how the motion of any object changes
from a straight line when a sideways force is applied to
it, and you will see that it curves inward toward the
direction in which the force acts (Fig. 5.11).
Figure 5.11. Sideways forces cause objects to turn
toward the direction of the force. The stronger the
force, the tighter the turn.
Sideways forces of this kind are called centripetal
(center-seeking) forces. The direction changes they
cause are centripetal accelerations.
The Second Law of Motion predicts that the
strength of the net force required to cause an object to
move with circular motion depends on the radius of the
circular path and the object’s speed and mass according
to this relationship:
2 bewildering. Selecting those experiences that lead to
force " mass ! speed .
radius
An object will move in a circle only if it experi-
ences an inward force with exactly this strength. If the
42
force is weaker, the object turns less tightly and leaves
the circle; if it is stronger, it turns more tightly and
comes closer to the center.
It is important to notice that centripetal forces obey
Newton’s Third Law; that is, they arise because of inter-
actions. A string pulls inward on a ball moving in a cir-
cle at the end of that string, friction pushes inward on a
car turning a corner, and gravity pulls a planet toward
the sun. In every case, some interaction must provide
an unbalanced sideways force on any object turning a
corner or moving in a circle. The word “centripetal”
does not describe the interaction from which the force
arises. Instead, it describes the direction in which the
force acts (sideways to the motion) and the kind of
acceleration it causes (turning or change of direction).
Finally, we should comment on the apparent out-
ward force we often seem to experience in circular
motion. This is another situation in which our sensa-
tions lead us astray. Our experiences result from the
consequences of the First Law of Motion. If an object
experiences no force, it moves in a straight line and, as
a result, leaves the circle. It is no more “thrown out-
ward” than is a car passenger’s head thrown forward
when the car stops, or backward when the car suddenly
accelerates forward. If a passenger moves in a straight
line (because of zero net force) while the car turns a cor-
ner, they will either soon part company or interact with
each other. These results occur because the car turns
and the passenger does not.
The Nature of Scientific Laws
Perhaps this is an appropriate place to pause briefly
and review what we have done and philosophize a bit.
We have described five broad ideas that we have called
laws: three laws of motion and two of force. Two ques-
tions seem appropriate: Where did they come from?
Why do we believe them to be true?
Basically, these laws arise in our imagination. As
we have developed each idea in this text, we have tried
to show how it might be deduced from our common
experiences. Viewed from this perspective, it all seems
simple. The actual discovery of these laws, however,
took mankind many hundreds of years. If it is so sim-
ple, why did it take so long?
We admit that we have misled you somewhat in our
development. We have the advantage of knowing which
“common” experiences to choose, which ones to present
first, and which to postpone until later. When we face all
the experiences of life without guidance, they are most
general principles is difficult when they seem at first no
different from all the others. The contribution of a
genius such as Newton is to separate the important from
the unimportant and then to combine the whole into
broad laws that explain almost everything. Then all the
rest of us stand back and exclaim, “How obvious!”
This is one essential step in finding scientific truth.
An idea is born! It does not matter how it comes—in a
dream, musing under an apple tree, by logical “proof”
from other “laws” or experimental evidence, or simply
by guessing. There are no general rules.
No matter how the idea originates, the next step is
essential. The idea is tested by experiments. Its conse-
quences are predicted, experiments are performed, and
results are observed. To the extent that the outcome
agrees with the theoretical predictions, the idea is vali-
dated. After the idea has been tested in numerous situ-
ations over many years, it gradually becomes known as
a “law” instead of a “theory.”
If experimental results are not exactly in harmony
with those predicted by using the new theory, we have
more to learn about either the theory or the experiment.
Our understanding is incomplete whenever theoretical
predictions and experimental results are not precisely
in accord.
The importance of this procedure can hardly be
overstated. It is not possible to prove any scientific the-
ory or law to be true. We simply cannot test all its ram-
ifications in all circumstances. But we can extend the
range over which it is known to be valid by performing
ever more sophisticated experiments.
A relevant historical example will illustrate this
point. Newton’s laws of motion have been tested and
found to be valid in an immense number of experiments
and applications over three hundred years. As we have
seen, or will see, they correctly describe the motion of
objects from the size of molecules to the size of galax-
ies moving with speeds from zero to tens of thousands
of kilometers per hour. Yet in this century it has been
discovered that Newton’s laws do not describe correct-
ly the motion of particles inside atoms, or of atoms
moving at speeds comparable to the speed of light.
These discoveries in turn have led to a much deeper
understanding of nature and have had significant philo-
sophical and economic impacts.
Only through continued and vigorous experimental
and theoretical research can we hope to discover the
inadequacies of our scientific laws, thereby opening the
door to a continued, expanding understanding of nature.
Mechanistic Philosophy
An important philosophical assumption underlies
everything we have said: Causes and effects are related
to each other through laws that we can discover.
Everything is caused by something else, and the rela-
tionship between cause and effect is fixed and unchang-
ing. Systems of thought based on this assumption can
be called mechanistic philosophies.
All of science is mechanistic. The cause-and-effect
assumption is important in many other applications as
43
well. Historians search for the “causes” of historical
events. Economists “explain” the vagaries of the busi-
ness cycle in terms of certain actions or events.
Psychologists “explain” human behavior in terms of
certain “needs,” or a variety of other factors, or both.
These disciplines and many others are mechanistic to
the extent they assume that events are caused and that
there is a definite relationship between cause and effect.
Summary
In this chapter we have tried to show some of the
implications of the laws we have studied. Think of the
efficiency of thought! Instead of remembering a thou-
sand details about the motion of different objects in a
variety of circumstances, motion can be summarized by
five comparatively simple statements of the laws of
motion and force.
Gravitational acceleration does not depend on
motion. A ball has the same acceleration whether it is
thrown up, down, horizontally, or simply dropped. The
motions are different in these cases, but the accelera-
tions are the same. In particular, a bullet fired horizon-
tally would, in the absence of air friction, fall at the
same rate as one that is simply dropped.
Electrical forces hold matter together and are
responsible for the contact forces, including friction,
which occur when objects seem to touch each other.
Most applications involve two or more forces act-
ing on the same object. Such forces may fully or par-
tially oppose each other so that the resulting accelera-
tion is smaller than would be the case if either force
acted by itself. The motion of a person standing in place
or jumping and the motion of an object falling through
a fluid can be understood in these terms.
The near-circular motion of the moon around the
earth, the planets around the sun, and the sun around the
galactic center can be understood in terms of gravita-
tional interactions causing appropriate centripetal
forces. A turning car is pushed sideways by frictional
forces due to its interaction with the road.
We have also tried to explain something of the
nature of scientific “laws,” scientific thought, and the
need for continuing experimentation as we try to
improve our knowledge. As we proceed, we hope you
will ask two questions about every principle discussed:
Why do we believe it to be true? What does it predict?
STUDY GUIDE
Chapter 5: Applications of the Laws of Force and
Motion
A. FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES
1. The First Law of Motion: See Chapter 3.
2. The Second Law of Motion: See Chapter 3.
3. The Third Law of Motion: See Chapter 3.
4. The Universal Law of Gravitation:
See Chapter 4.
5. The Electric Force Law: See Chapter 4.
B. MODELS, IDEAS, QUESTIONS, OR
APPLICATIONS
1 The Newtonian Model: See Chapter 3.
2. Can you describe a procedure that produces a cor-
rect analysis of motion according to the Newtonian
Model?
3. What is a mechanistic philosophy?
C. GLOSSARY
1. Centripetal (“Center-Seeking”) Forces: Forces
which are directed sideways to the direction of
motion of an object, tending the motion toward cir-
cular motion around a center. The resulting accel-
eration in the direction of the centripetal force is
called centripetal acceleration.
2. Contact Forces: Forces which, to the naked eye,
appear to arise from physical contact of one object
with another. For example, the force exerted on a
book by the table on which the book lies.
Microscopically, contact forces are seen to be elec-
trical attractions or repulsions of the charged parts
of the atoms of which the objects are made.
3. Gravitational Acceleration (or Free-fall
Acceleration): The acceleration of an object in
those circumstances when the force of gravity is the
only significant force acting on the object. Objects
near the surface of the earth have a gravitational
acceleration of 35 kilometers per hour each second.
4. Mechanistic Philosophy: Systems of thought
based on the idea of the fixed and unchanging rela-
tionship between cause and effect. Science is mech-
anistic.
D. FOCUS QUESTIONS
NOTE: BY “ANALYZE THE MOTION” IN THE
FOLLOWING QUESTIONS WE MEAN TO
CHOOSE AN OBJECT, IDENTIFY THE SIGNIF-
ICANT FORCES THAT AFFECT THE MOTION
OF THE OBJECT, AND DRAW A CONCLUSION
ABOUT THE KIND OF MOTION THAT WILL
RESULT.
1. In each of the following situations:
a. Describe the motion.
b. Analyze the motion by applying the procedure
above.
c. List the fundamental principles used in coming
to the result of your analysis.
(1) A book is at rest on the ground.
(2) A ball is thrown straight up. Analyze the
motion of the ball after it is released and while
it is still moving upward. Also analyze the
44
motion at the moment it is at its highest point.
(3) A moose is hooked to a log that is at rest.
The moose then begins to pull the log forward.
Analyze the motion of the log just as it begins
to move.
(4) Suppose a bullet is fired horizontally and
leaves the gun at the same instant a rock is
dropped. Assume air friction can be neglected,
the surface is flat, and that both objects begin
their motion from the same height.
(5) A puck fastened to a string moves on an air
table in a circle about the anchor point of the
string.
(6) A girl is standing in an elevator. The eleva-
tor begins to move upward.
E. EXERCISES
5.1. A baseball is
(a) dropped,
(b) thrown straight down,
(c) thrown straight up, and
(d) thrown horizontally from the roof of a tall
building. How does the acceleration (amount and
direction) of the baseball in the last three cases
compare with that in the first case? Justify your
answers using appropriate fundamental laws.
5.2. Explain the meaning of your answer to the
previous question by describing the subsequent motion
of the baseball in the four different cases.
5.3. Explain carefully, using the Second Law of
Motion and the Gravitational Force Law, why the rate
of acceleration due to gravity changes from place to
place near the surface of the earth.
5.4. Suppose a ball is thrown upward at an angle
so that its initial motion can be described in terms of a
horizontal speed of 60 kilometers/hour together with a
vertical speed of 140 kilometers/hour. Analyze the sub-
sequent motion of the ball. In particular, show what it
means to say that the acceleration of this ball is the same
as if it were simply dropped from the top of a building.
5.5. Why is the gravitational acceleration near the
moon only about one-sixth that near the earth?
5.6. We know that gravitational force and, hence,
gravitational acceleration change with height above the
earth’s surface. Why can we treat objects falling near
the earth as if their acceleration does not change?
5.7. Explain why you experience a frictional force
when you slide your hand across a table.
5.8. Describe the force (or forces) that act on you
as you walk across a rough floor. Which force causes
you to accelerate?
5.9. What could cause an electric current?
5.10. Outline the general rules you can use to iden-
tify forces on any object you happen to be studying.
5.11. Use the rules for finding forces and discuss
the forces acting on your head as you sit in a car which
is speeding up or slowing down. What difference would
it make if there were a headrest?
5.12. Describe the forces acting on a car traveling
along a level road. Why must the car’s engine continue
to operate if the car is to continue along the road with-
out changing speed?
5.13. Describe the force, or forces, which propel a
high jumper over the high-jump bar. For each force you
describe, identify the interaction, describe both forces in
the interaction, and indicate the direction of each force.
5.14. Describe the forces which act upon you as
you ride an elevator. Use the Second Law of Motion to
determine their relationship to each other.
5.15. We have seen that objects which fall under the
influence of gravity increase their speed at the rate of 35
kilometers/hour (about 22 miles/hour) every second.
Raindrops fall for several seconds, sometimes minutes,
before reaching the ground. Why don’t raindrops strike
the earth with speeds of hundreds of kilometers per hour?
5.16. Why is a parachute helpful to someone who
jumps from a great height? Why is it not helpful if the
person jumps only a short distance?
5.17. Describe the important interactions and forces
that govern the earth’s motion around the sun. Show
that the relationship between the forces and the motion
is consistent with the Second Law of Motion.
5.18. Describe the important forces acting on a car
as it turns a corner. Which of these is a centripetal
force? In what direction is the net force?
5.19. What is a “centripetal” force? How does it
change the motion of an object to which it is applied?
5.20. Describe how the boat would accelerate in the
following three circumstances, if the sail and rudder of
a sailboat can be maneuvered so that the resulting force
on the boat can be directed
(a) in the direction the boat is going,
(b) opposite the direction of the boat’s motion, or
45
(c) sideways.
5.21. A ball is whirled in a horizontal circle on the
end of a string without changing its speed.
(a) Describe the force or forces which act on the ball.
(b) Show that your answer is consistent with the
Second Law of Motion.
(c) Is there a force on the ball tending to pull the
ball outward? Explain your answer.
5.22. A satellite is in a nearly circular orbit around
the earth.
(a) Describe the force or forces which govern the
motion of the satellite.
(b) Is the satellite accelerating? Explain your
answer.
(c) Show that your answers to (a) and (b) are con-
sistent with the Second Law of Motion.
(d) Explain, using the laws we have discussed, why
the satellite stays in orbit rather than either flying
off into space or falling back to earth.
5.23. What do we mean when we say that a partic-
ular scientific law is “true”?
5.24. Scientific research is almost always expen-
sive. Is there a cheaper way, perhaps using logic and
more careful reasoning, to discover the laws of nature?
5.25. Describe an example of a “mechanistic” view
in an area other than science. Choose an example that
is different from those in the text.
5.26. What could you do to convince a skeptic that
Newton’s Law of Gravitation is valid? Would your
demonstration prove that the law is “true”?
5.27. You get in an elevator and start from rest to
move upward. This is possible because
(a) of a reduced gravitational force.
(b) of an increased gravitational force.
(c) of a single force acting upward on you.
(d) the upward force of the elevator is greater than
the force of gravity.
(e) of three upward and downward forces acting.
5.28. Two objects attract each other gravitationally.
One object has twice the mass of the second. Which is true?
(a) The force on object one is twice that on object
two.
(b) The force on object one is half that on object
two.
(c) The force on object one is equal that on object
two.
(d) The acceleration of object one is twice that of
object two.
(e) The acceleration of object one is equal that of
object two.

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