Force Fundamentals
What is a force?
What is a push or a pull.
A book is sitting on a desk and not moving. What force is acting on it?
What is gravity
How many laws of motion did Newton describe?
What are three laws of motion
True or False: Forces only happen when something is moving.
What is false.
What force pulls objects toward Earth?
What is gravity.
What unit is used to measure force?
A parachutist falls slowly to the ground. What force slows them down?
What is air resistance
What is Newton’s First Law also called?
What is the law of inertia.
A moving object has no forces acting on it. What will it do?
What is: it will continue moving at a constant speed in a straight line
A balloon sticks to a wall after being rubbed on hair. What force is this?
What is electrostatic force?
True or False: Forces can only affect moving objects.
What is false
A tug-of-war team is not moving even though both sides are pulling hard. What does this tell you?
What is the forces are balanced/the net force is zero.
Why does a lighter object accelerate more than a heavier one when the same force is applied?
What is Newton’s Second Law (less mass = more acceleration)
A car is moving forward, then the driver brakes suddenly. What happens to the passengers and why?
What is they continue moving forward because of inertia (Newton's first law).
A bike slows down when brakes are applied. What force is mainly responsible?
What is friction
Why doesn’t the door move when two people push on it equally from opposite sides?
A skateboard keeps moving after the rider stops pushing. Why does this happen?
What is because of inertia?
What is Newton's third law?
What is for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
Race cars often follow closely behind each other during a race. How does this help them?
What is it reduces air resistance.
Why do two balloons that have both been rubbed on hair push away from each other?
What is they both have the same negative charge and like charges repel
Why might two objects move differently even when the same force is applied to both?
What is they have different masses.
True or False: Heavier objects fall faster than lighter objects in a vacuum. Explain.
What is false. Without air resistance, all objects fall at the same rate because gravity affects them equally.
A satellite orbits Earth with no engine. How does it stay in motion, and what keeps it in orbit?
What is: stays moving due to inertia, and gravity pulls it toward Earth, creating an orbit.
A magnetic levitation (maglev) train floats above the rails. How does this improve its motion?
What is: It reduces friction between the train and track, allowing it to move faster and use less energy.
Why can a magnet attract a paperclip even when there is a piece of paper between them?
What is because it is a non-contact force.