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Science
Quarter 1 – Module 1:
Forces
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What I Need to Know
This module was designed and written with you in mind. It is here to
help you master forces. The scope of this module permits it to be used
in many different learning situations. The language used recognizes
the diverse vocabulary level of students. The lessons are arranged to
follow the standard sequence of the course. But the order in which
you read them can be changed to correspond with the textbook you
are now using.
This module contains:
Lesson 1 – Forces
After going through this module, you are expected to:
1. Investigate the relationship between the amount of
force applied and the mass of the object to the amount
of change in the object’s motion. (Week 1 S8FE-Ia-15)
What I Know
Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers on
a separate sheet of paper.
1. Which of the following describes a force?
A. A pull only
B. A push only
C. A push or pull or both
D. Neither a push nor a pull
2. What is the unit of force in metric system?
A. Calorie
B. Joules
C. Newtons
D. Pounds
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3. How do forces occur?
A. in pairs
B. in triplets
C. by themselves
D. as single quantity
4. When you move a chair across the floor, what force must your
push be stronger than?
A. friction
B. magnetic
C. normal
D. tension
5. A 500 N lady sits on the floor. How much force the floor exerts
on her?
A. 50 N
B. 250 N
C. 500 N
D. 1000 N
6. Which force always pulls the objects to the ground?
A. applied
B. friction
C. gravitational
D. tension
7. A leaf falls from a tree. What force(s) are acting on it?
A. Air resistance only
B. Gravitational force only
C. Applied force and air resistance
D. Air resistance and gravitational forces
8. When a cabinet touches the floor, which type of forces exist?
A. Contact forces
B. Balanced forces
C. Non-contact forces
D. Unbalanced forces
9. The Earth has a bigger mass than the Moon. If you were able
to travel to the Moon, what happens to your weight?
A. increases
B. decreases
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C. stays the same
D. varies with day and night
10. What is the net force in the figure below?
A. 1 N, to the left
B. 1 N, to the right
C. 11 N, to the left
D. 11 N, to the right
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Lesson
Forces
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Force can be operationally defined based on observed effects.
This means that a force can be described in terms of what it does.
However, forces do not always cause motion. It does not necessarily
follow that forces acting on an object will always cause it to move.
Figures below are examples where forces have tendency of changing
the motion of an object or not.
Figure 1. A girl sitting on a chair Figure 2. A boy pushing a wall
Figure 3. A woman throwing a ball
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What can forces do? Forces can produce
changes in motion. What are these changes in motion?
What’s In
In Grade 7, you learned displacement, velocity, and
acceleration. You conducted activities wherein you understood and
made visual representations of the motion of objects such as motion
graphs. The ideas were arrived at by studying examples of uniform
motion or objects moving in straight line at constant speed. Then you
were introduced to non-uniform motion where the object covers
unequal displacements at equal intervals of time.
Figure 4. A moving car Figure 5. A car slowing
down
When a car starts moving, it speeds up. When a car nears a
stop sign, it slows down. The car is covering different displacements at
equal time intervals, hence is not moving in constant velocity. This
means the car is accelerating.
What’s New
Most of the motions we come across in our daily life are caused
primarily by FORCE.
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To better understand the topic, perform the simple activities that
follow:
Activity 1. Effect of force on a ball
Figure 6. Effect of force on a ball
Examine the ball on top of the table (see figure 6). Choose the
letter of your answer to the given conditions below:
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4. In letter C, while it is A. Exert a force opposite B. The ball has to be
moving, how can you the motion of the pushed in the
make the ball stop? ball. same direction of
its motion.
5. In letter D, how can A. The ball has to be B. The ball has to be
we make the ball pushed sideways. pushed in the
change its direction? same direction of
its motion.
What is It
You have observed that the ball moves once you push or pull it.
This is called force. Consider a ball on top of a table as shown in
Figure 6. The ball will not move when there is no force applied to it
(Figure 6A). If you push the ball, it will move or roll across the surface
of the table (Figure 6B). And when it is again pushed in the direction
of its motion, it moves faster and even farther (Figure 6B). But when
you push it on the other side instead, opposite to the direction of its
motion, the ball may slow down and eventually stop (Figure 6C).
Lastly, when you push it in a direction different from its original
direction of motion, the ball also changes its direction (Figure 6D). In
conclusion, force can make the ball, or any object move, move faster,
stop, or change its direction of motion. But, does this occur always?
Can force always effect change in the state of motion of an object?
To accurately describe the forces acting on an object, let us
examine the figure below:
Figure 7. Physical concepts illustrated on a ball
Figure 7 shows how force acts on a ball, but you need to be
familiar with the following terms:
• magnitude – refers to the size or strength of the force. It is
commonly expressed in Newton (N) for Meter-Kilogram-Second
(MKS) system, Dyne
(dyn) for Centimeter–Gram–Second (CGS) system and pounds
(lbs) for Foot– Pound–Second (FPS) system. In the International
System of Units (SI), Newton is commonly used which is named
after Sir Isaac Newton, an English physicist and
mathematician.
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• direction – points to where the object goes. The direction of the
arrowhead indicates the direction of the force. The length of the
arrow represents the amount of force (relative magnitude).
• point of application – the location of where the force is
applied.
• line of action – is the straight line passing through the point of
application and is parallel to the direction of force.
There are two types of force, namely:
Contact forces – forces where objects touch or contact with each
other.
Examples of contact forces:
1. Applied – a force given to a person or object by another person
or object. Its symbol is F depending on who or what applies
force to the object. If a boy applies a force to a wall, we denote it
with FBOY. Refer to the figure below.
Figure 8. Applied force of a boy (FBOY ) towards the wall
2. Friction – is the force acting against or opposite an object in
contact with which makes the movement of the object slow
down. Friction always opposes the motion of an object. Its
symbol is written as Ff. Air resistance denoted by FAIR is an
example of frictional force of the air against a flying kite,
airplanes, parachutes or those in skydiving sports. For free-
falling objects, this force is always considered negligible,
meaning the magnitude is unnoticeable.
Figure 9. Frictional force (Ff ) acts opposite to the force applied
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3. Normal – is the force that acts perpendicular to the surface of
the object in contact with. Its symbol is FN.
Figure 10. Normal force (FN) acts perpendicular to the surface
4. Tension – is the force applied to string, rope, chain or cable. Its
symbol is T.
Figure 11. Tensional force or simply tension (T) that acts
on the rope of a hanging ball
Non-contact forces – forces where objects do not touch or contact
with each other. These forces act over a zone or area called field.
Examples of non-contact forces:
1. Gravitational (Fg) – is the force of attraction between two
objects. In the case of the Earth, this gravitational force causes
objects to fall down to the ground. It makes satellites and
smaller objects stay in orbit near the more massive planets.
Mass and distance of the two objects affect the gravitational
force that holds them. The bigger the masses of the objects are,
the bigger is the gravitational force between them. The closer
the objects are, the greater is the gravitational force between
them. The figure below illustrates gravitational force between
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the Earth and the Moon. Earth has bigger gravitational force
over the Moon.
Figure 12. Gravitational force between the Earth and the Moon.
The weight of an object, denoted by W, is an example of
the gravitational force of the Earth towards the object. In figure
13, the weight of a book (WBOOK) is illustrated.
Figure 13. Illustration of the weight of a book (WBOOK) on the table with normal
force (FN)
However, the weight of an object depends on the mass of
the celestial body where the object is attracted to. Meaning, we
seem to be lighter when we are on the moon than on the Earth.
2. Magnetic– are forces exerted on a field of attraction or
repulsion as in the case of magnets and other magnetic
materials. Magnets and magnetic materials have two poles –
the north and south poles. Attraction may occur when two
poles are not the same, a positive and a negative while
repulsion takes place with the same poles, positive-positive and
negative-negative.
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Figure 14. Opposite poles attract Like poles repel
Balanced Forces
To describe a force, you must know two things. You must know
the magnitude and the direction of the force. Suppose two teams are
playing tug-of-war as shown in figure 15. Each team is pulling with
equal magnitude of force, FA and FB , on the rope but in opposite
directions. Neither team can make the other team move. Forces that
are equal in magnitude but opposite in direction are called balanced
forces. Balanced forces do not cause a change in motion. When
balanced forces act on an object at rest, the object will not move.
Figure 15. A representation of balanced forces in a tug-of-war
game
Unbalanced Forces
When you push a table and then it moves, unbalanced forces
are present. Forces that cause a change in the motion of an object are
unbalanced forces. Unbalanced forces are not equal and in opposite
direction. Suppose that one of the teams in tug-of-war, as shown in
figure 16, exerts greater magnitude of force, F B, on the ground than
the other team, the forces applied on the ground would no longer be
equal. One team would be able to pull the other team in the direction
of the larger force.
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Figure 16. A representation of unbalanced force in a tug-of-war
game
Net or Resultant Force
In an object, there may be several forces acting on it. Net force
or resultant force is the sum of all forces acting on an object. Two or
more forces in the same line of action exerted on an object are
balanced if their effects cancel each other.
When an object is at rest, a zero net force would make the
object remains at rest. Moreover, when the object is moving, a zero net
force would make the object maintain its velocity at a given time
interval.
On the other hand, when the net force is not zero, the object’s
velocity will change. A net force exerted to an object at rest may cause
the object to move. In a moving object, a net force will increase its
velocity when the force is in the same direction of its motion. If the net
force is in the opposite direction of the object’s motion, the force will
reduce the object’s velocity. When the net force acts sideways on a
moving object, the direction of the object’s velocity changes.
What I Can Do
When we combine or add forces to determine the net or
resultant force, we will limit to those forces which act along the same
line of action. The algebraic signs + and – are used to indicate the
direction of forces. Unlike signs are used for forces acting in opposite
directions, see figure 22 below.
ground
https://pixabay.com/vectors/book-closed-black-blank-library-306468/ Figure 22.
Forces in opposite direction
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The force of gravity (Fg) and the normal force (FN) are assigned
opposite signs. FN is given a positive (+) sign while Fg is given a
negative (-) sign. If both Fg and FN are given a magnitude value of 3 N,
then the net force along this line (vertical) is represented by ∑𝐹 .
To solve for the net force, you get the sum of all the forces
exerted in the object. The symbol sigma, ∑, means you add all the
existing forces in the same line of action. You cannot add a vertical
force to a horizontal force. In Figure 20, we can add the two forces,
normal and gravitational force since they are in the same vertical line
of action.
𝐹𝑛𝑒𝑡 =∑𝐹
F net = FN + Fg
= 3 N + ( -3 N )
=0N
If the net force equates to zero, they are considered balanced. If the
net force is not equal to zero, the forces are not balanced. This
unbalanced force would cause a change in a body’s state of motion.
Refer to the figure 21.
Team A Team B
FA= 1000 N FB= 1300 N
Figure 23. Forces in opposite direction.
In figure 23, suppose one side in the tug-of-war, team A exerts
1,000 N while the other side, Team B exerts 1300 N. To get the net
force,
Fnet = FA + FB
= ( -1000 N) + 1300 N
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= +300 N or 300 N, to the right
This means that Team B won the game, since the Fnet = 300 N in the
direction of Team B (to the right). The negative sign (-1000 N) in the
solution means the force is exerted in the opposite side (to the left).
Always remember to write the magnitude and direction of the force.
Now, try to answer this concept check in the situations below.
Activity 1
Read and analyze each problem carefully. Write your answers
and solutions in your answer sheet.
1. Boys A and B, are pulling a heavy cabinet at the same time with 5
N of force each. What is the net force acting on the cabinet?
______________________
2. What if boy A and boy B pull the heavy cabinet at the same time in
opposite directions with 10 N and 5 N of force respectively,
a. what will be the net force on the cabinet?
______________________
b. will the cabinet move? ______________________
c. to what direction will it move? ______________________
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3. From problem 2, suppose another boy, Boy C pulls the heavy
cabinet with 5 N of force in the same direction with Boy A,
a. What will be the net force on the cabinet?
______________________
b. Will the cabinet move? ______________________
c. In what direction will the cabinet move?
______________________
Assessment
Choose the letter of the correct answer. Write your answers on
a separate sheet of paper.
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1. Which is NOT a unit of force?
A. Dyne
B. Joules
C. Newton
D. Pound
2. What refers to how large or strong is the force?
A. magnitude
B. line of action
C. velocity of the object
D. direction of the force
3. What force is always directed opposite to the motion of an
object?
A. Friction
B. Gravitational
C. Magnetic
D. Tension
4. What force pulls an object back to the Earth?
A. Applied
B. Gravitational
C. Magnetic
D. Tension
5. Which surface would be easiest for a bicycle to move?
A. Sand
B. Grass
C. Muddy road
D. Concrete road
6. What type of forces holds between two celestial bodies like the
Sun and Earth?
A. Applied
B. Gravitational
C. Magnetic
D. Tension
7. What force acts perpendicular to the surface of the object in
contact with?
A. Applied
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B. Gravitational
C. Normal
D. Tension
8. Two people pull on a rope in a tug-of-war. Each pull with a 300
N force. What is the net force?
A. 0 N
B. 300 N C. 600 N
D. 900 N
9. Planet Jupiter has a bigger mass than the Earth. If you were
able to travel to planet Jupiter, what happens to your weight?
A. increases
B. decreases
C. stays the same
D. varies with day and night
10.What is the net force in the figure below?
A. 25 N, to the left
B. 25 N, to the right
C. 195 N, to the left
D. 195 N, to the right
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