Laws of Motion

LAWS OF MOTION

INTRODUCTION

Human beings are so curious about things around them. Things around us are related to one another. Some bodies are at rest and some are in motion. Rest and motion are interrelated terms.

In the previous classes you have learnt about various types of motion such as linear motion, circular motion, oscillatory motion, and so on. So far, you have discussed the motion of bodies in terms of their displacement, velocity, and acceleration. In this unit, let us investigate the cause of motion.

When a body is at rest, starts moving, a question that arises in our mind is ‘what causes the body to move?’ Similarly, when a moving object comes to rest, you would like to know what brings it to rest? If a moving object speeds up or slows down or changes its direction. what speeds up or slows down the body? What changes the direction of motion?

One answer for all the above questions is ‘Force’. In a common man’s understanding of motion, a body needs a ‘push’ or ‘pull’ to move, or bring to rest or change its velocity. Hence, this ‘push’ or ‘pull’ is called as ‘force’.

Let us define force in a more scientific manner using the three laws proposed by Sir Isaac Newton. These laws help you to understand the motion of a body and also to predict the future course of its motion, if you know the forces acting on it. Before Newton formulated his three laws of motion, a different perception about the force and motion of bodies prevailed. Let us first look at these ideas and then eventually learn about Newton’s laws in this unit.

Mechanics is the branch of physics that deals with the effect of force on bodies. It is divided into two branches, namely, statics and dynamics.

Statics: It deals with the bodies, which are at rest under the action of forces.

Dynamics: It is the study of moving bodies under the action of forces. Dynamics is further divided as follows.

Kinematics: It deals with the motion of bodies without considering the cause of motion.

Kinetics: It deals with the motion of bodies considering the cause of motion.