10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

FreeBodyDiagrams:Introduction

LearningGoal:
Tolearntodrawfreebodydiagramsforvariousreallifesituations.

Imaginethatyouaregivenadescriptionofareallifesituationandareaskedtoanalyzethemotionoftheobjectsinvolved.
Frequently,thatanalysisinvolvesfindingtheaccelerationoftheobjects,which,inturn,requiresthatyoufindthenetforce.

Tofindthenetforce,youmustfirstidentifyalloftheforcesactingontheobjectandthenaddthemasvectors.Suchaprocedure
isnotalwaystrivial.Itishelpfultoreplacethesketchofthesituationbyadrawingoftheobject(representedasaparticle)andall
theforcesappliedtoit.Suchadrawingiscalledafreebodydiagram.Thisproblemwillwalkyouthroughseveralexamplesof
freebodydiagramsandwilldemonstratesomeofthepossiblepitfalls.
Hereisthegeneralstrategyfordrawingfreebodydiagrams:

Identifytheobjectofinterest.Thismaynotalwaysbeeasy:Asketchofthesituationmaycontainmanyobjects,
eachofwhichhasadifferentsetofforcesactingonit.Includingforcesactingondifferentobjectsinthesame
diagramwillleadtoconfusionandawrongsolution.
Drawtheobjectasadot.Drawandclearlylabelalltheforcesactingontheobjectofinterest.Theforcesshouldbe
shownasvectorsoriginatingfromthedotrepresentingtheobjectofinterest.Therearetwopossibledifficulties
here:omittingsomeforcesanddrawingtheforcesthateitherdon'texistatallorareappliedtootherobjects.To
avoidthesetwopitfalls,rememberthateveryforcemustbeappliedtotheobjectofinterestbysomeotherobject.
Oncealloftheforcesaredrawn,drawthecoordinatesystem.Theoriginshouldcoincidewiththedotrepresenting
theobjectofinterestandtheaxesshouldbechosensothatthesubsequentcalculationsofvectorcomponentsof
theforceswillberelativelysimple.Thatis,asmanyforcesaspossiblemustbeeitherparallelorperpendicularto
oneoftheaxes.

Eventhoughreallifecanpresentuswithawidevarietyofsituations,wewillbemostlydealingwithaverysmallnumberof
forces.Herearetheprincipalonesofinterest:

Weight,ortheforceduetogravity.Weightactsoneveryobjectandisdirectedstraightdownunlessweare
consideringaprobleminvolvingthenonflatearth(e.g.,satellites).
Normalforce.Thenormalforceexistsbetweentwosurfacesthatarepressedagainsteachotheritisalways
perpendiculartothesurfaces.
Forceoftension.Tensionexistsinstrings,springs,andotherobjectsoffinitelength.Itisdirectedalongthestringor
aspring.Keepinmindthataspringcanbeeithercompressedorstretchedwhereasastringcanonlybestretched.
Forceoffriction.Africtionforceexistsbetweentwosurfacesthateithermoveorhaveatendencytomoverelative
toeachother.Sometimes,theforceofairdrag,similarinsomewaystotheforceoffriction,maycomeintoplay.
Theseforcesaredirectedsothattheyresisttherelativemotionofthesurfaces.Tosimplifyproblemsyouoften
assumethatfrictionisnegligibleonsmoothsurfacesandcanbeignored.Inaddition,thewordfrictioncommonly
referstoresistiveforcesotherthanairdragthatarecausedbycontactbetweensurfaces,soyoucanignoreair
draginproblemsunlessyouareexplicitlytoldtoconsideritseffects.

Thefollowingexamplesshouldhelpyoulearntodrawfreebodydiagrams.Wewillstartwithrelativelysimplesituationsinwhich
theobjectofinterestiseitherexplicitlysuggestedorfairlyobvious.

PartA
Ahockeypuckslidesalongahorizontal,smoothicysurfaceataconstantvelocityasshown.Whichofthefollowingforces
actonthepuck?

Checkallthatapply.

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

ANSWER:

acceleration

friction

airdrag

weight

normalforce

forceofvelocity

forceofpush

Correct
Thereisnosuchthingas"theforceofvelocity."Ifthepuckisnotbeingpushed,therearenohorizontalforcesactingon
it.Ofcourse,somehorizontalforcemusthaveactedonitbefore,toimpartthevelocityhowever,inthesituation
described,nosuch"forceofpush"exists.Also,theairdraginsuchcasesisassumedtobenegligible.Finally,theword
"smooth"usuallyimpliesnegligiblesurfacefriction.Yourfreebodydiagramshouldlookliketheoneshownhere.

PartB
Considerablockpulledbyahorizontalropealongahorizontalsurfaceataconstantvelocityasshown.Thereistensionin
therope.Whichofthefollowingforcesactontheblock?
Checkallthatapply.

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

ANSWER:

weight

forceoftension

normalforce

airdrag

forceofvelocity

acceleration

friction

Correct
Becausethevelocityisconstant,theremustbeaforceoffrictionopposingtheforceoftension.Sincetheblockis
moving,itiskineticfriction.Yourfreebodydiagramshouldlooklikethatshownhere.

PartC
Ablockisrestingonanslope.Whichofthefollowingforcesactontheblock?
Checkallthatapply.
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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

ANSWER:

weight

kineticfriction

forceofpush

normalforce

staticfriction

Correct

PartD
Drawthefreebodydiagramfortheblockrestingonaslope.
Drawtheforcevectorssuchthattheirtailsalignwiththecenteroftheblock(indicatedbytheblackdot).The
orientationsofyourvectorswillbegradedbutnotthelengths.

ANSWER:

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PartE
Nowconsiderablockslidinguparoughslopeafterhavingbeengivenaquickpushasshown.Whichofthefollowingforces
actontheblock?
Checkallthatapply.

ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

weight

kineticfriction

staticfriction

forceofpush

normalforce

theforceofvelocity

AnswerRequested
Theword"rough"impliesthepresenceoffriction.Sincetheblockisinmotion,itiskineticfriction.Onceagain,thereis
nosuchthingas"theforceofvelocity."However,itseemsatemptingchoicetosomestudentssincetheblockisgoing
up.

PartF
Drawthefreebodydiagramfortheblockslidinguparoughslopeafterhavingbeengivenaquickpush.
Drawtheforcevectorssuchthattheirtailsalignwiththecenteroftheblock(indicatedbytheblackdot).The
orientationsofyourvectorswillbegradedbutnotthelengths.

ANSWER:

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

PartG
Nowconsiderablockbeingpushedupasmoothslope.Theforcepushingtheblockisparalleltotheslope.Whichofthe
followingforcesareactingontheblock?

Checkallthatapply.

ANSWER:

weight

kineticfriction

staticfriction

forceofpush

normalforce

AnswerRequested
Yourfreebodydiagramshouldlookliketheoneshownhere.

Theforceofpushisthenormalforceexerted,possibly,bythepalmofthehandofthepersonpushingtheblock.

Inalltheprevioussituationsjustdescribed,theobjectofinterestwasexplicitlygiven.Intheremainingpartsoftheproblem,
considerasituationwherechoosingtheobjectsforwhichtodrawthefreebodydiagramsisuptoyou.
Twoblocksofmassesm1 andm2 areconnectedbyalightstringthatgoesoveralightfrictionlesspulley.Theblockofmassm1
isslidingtotherightonaroughhorizontalsurfaceofalabtable.

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10/4/2017 MasteringPhysics: Assignment 3 - Forces Part One

PartH
Tosolvefortheaccelerationoftheblocks,youwillhavetodrawthefreebodydiagramsforwhichobjects?

Checkallthatapply.
ANSWER:

theblockofmassm1

theblockofmassm2

theconnectingstring

thepulley

thetable

theearth

AnswerRequested

PartI
Drawthefreebodydiagramfortheblockofmassm1 anddrawafreebodydiagramfortheblockofmassm2 .
Drawtheforcevectorsactingonm1 suchthattheirtailsalignwiththecenteroftheblocklabeledm1 (indicatedby
theblackdot).Drawtheforcevectorsactingonm2 withtheirtailsalignedwiththecenteroftheblocklabeledm2 .
Theorientationsofyourvectorswillbegradedbutnotthelengths.

ANSWER:

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