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When a force acts on a particle, it is applied to a single point (the particle volume is negligible): this is a point force and the particle is its application point. But an external force on an extended body (object) can be applied to a number of its constituent particles, i.e. can be "spread" over some volume or surface of the body.
The matter and force fields have zero-point energy. [2] A related term is zero-point field (ZPF), which is the lowest energy state of a particular field. [92] The vacuum can be viewed not as empty space, but as the combination of all zero-point fields.
[19]: 14–15 The torque can vanish even when the force is non-zero, if the body is located at the reference point (=) or if the force and the displacement vector are directed along the same line. The angular momentum of a collection of point masses, and thus of an extended body, is found by adding the contributions from each of the points.
In such a situation, a force is applied in the direction of motion while the kinetic friction force exactly opposes the applied force. This results in zero net force, but since the object started with a non-zero velocity, it continues to move with a non-zero velocity. Aristotle misinterpreted this motion as being caused by the applied force.
If the force acting on a body varies over space, then one has a force field; such a field is described by vectors at every point in space, which is in-turn called a vector field. A conservative vector field can be simply expressed as the gradient of a certain scalar function, called a scalar potential. The potential energy is related to, and ...
The resulting force vector is parallel to the electric field vector at that point, with that point charge removed. Force F {\textstyle \mathbf {F} } on a small charge q {\displaystyle q} at position r {\displaystyle \mathbf {r} } , due to a system of n {\textstyle n} discrete charges in vacuum is [ 19 ]
A system is in mechanical equilibrium at the critical points of the function describing the system's potential energy. These points can be located using the fact that the derivative of the function is zero at these points. To determine whether or not the system is stable or unstable, the second derivative test is applied.
A force applied to a body has a point of application. The effect of the force is different for different points of application. For this reason a force is called a bound vector, which means that it is bound to its point of application. Forces applied at the same point can be added together to obtain the same effect on the body.