Section 1 of 6Newton's First Law
You may even
- You may even have this misconception, without realising it
It is
- It is It is important to fully understand Newton's first law,
- because it underpins a lot of physics content and can cause you to make mistakes in seemingly unrelated questions
Usually, students
- Usually, students Usually, students are comfortable with the idea that an object at rest on a table will not move unless something or someone physically moves it
The issue
- The issue The issue comes from the idea of an object in motion
A rock
- A rock A rock drifting through the vacuum of deep space away from the gravitational pull of any large bodies, will continue to drift at that same speed, in that same direction, potentially forever
Section 2 of 6Newton's Second Law
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a) The acceleration of the car in the first 3 seconds
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b) The force required to produce this acceleration
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This force causes each trolley to accelerate
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have the smallest acceleration? Explain your answer
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is involved in a collision, which brings the car (and the passenger) to a halt in 0.1 seconds
Section 3 of 6Required Practical: Investigating Force & Acceleration
Required Practical: Investigating Force & Acceleration
Use the
- Use the Use the metre ruler to measure out intervals on the bench, e.g
Every 0.2
- Every 0.2 every 0.2 m for a total distance of 1 m
Draw straight
- Draw straight Draw straight lines with pencil or chalk across the table at these intervals 2
Attach the
- Attach the Attach the bench pulley to the end of the bench 3
Tie some
- Tie some Tie some string to the toy car or trolley
Section 4 of 6Newton's Third Law
The two
- The two The two forces in a third law pair act on different objects 2
The two
- The two The two forces in a third law pair always are equal in size but act in opposite directions 3
The two forces
- The two forces are always the same type: weight, reaction force, etc
If you
- If you are struggling to name the force, just describe it as a push or pull force Worked Example A physics textbook is at rest on a table
Student a
- Student a Student A draws a free body force diagram for the book and labels the forces acting on it as weight and reaction force
Section 5 of 6Inertia
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For the same applied force, their accelerations are inversely proportional to their mass Worked Example Three objects are used by a physics technician to demonstrate the concept of inertial mass
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This means the object with the smallest acceleration will have the largest inertial mass
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Object B has the smallest acceleration (0.7 m/s²), so it has the largest inertial mass
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Examiner Tips and Tricks The definition of inertial mass as a ratio between force and acceleration should look similar to Newton's second law
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That's because when you calculate the mass of an object using Newton's second law, you are in fact calculating its inertial mass.
Section 6 of 6Exam Checklist & Tips
Specification Mastery Checklist
- Key Definitions Ensure precise recall of terms and units as required by examination mark schemes.
- Equations & Formulas Double-check balanced state symbols, subscripts, and SI unit conversions.
- Common Misconceptions Verify experimental conditions, controls, and comparative trends across groups.