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A force is an influence that can cause an object to change its velocity unless counterbalanced by other forces. The concept of force makes the everyday notion of pushing or pulling mathematically precise.
A newton is defined as 1 kg⋅m/s 2 (it is a named derived unit defined in terms of the SI base units). [1]: 137 One newton is, therefore, the force needed to accelerate one kilogram of mass at the rate of one metre per second squared in the direction of the applied force.
Newton's second law is sometimes presented as a definition of force, i.e., a force is that which exists when an inertial observer sees a body accelerating. In order for this to be more than a tautology — acceleration implies force, force implies acceleration — some other statement about force must also be made.
Figure 2: Weight (W), the frictional force (F r), and the normal force (F n) acting on a block.Weight is the product of mass (m) and the acceleration of gravity (g).In the case of an object resting upon a flat table (unlike on an incline as in Figures 1 and 2), the normal force on the object is equal but in opposite direction to the gravitational force applied on the object (or the weight of ...
The pound-force is equal to the gravitational force exerted on a mass of one avoirdupois pound on the surface of Earth.Since the 18th century, the unit has been used in low-precision measurements, for which small changes in Earth's gravity (which varies from equator to pole by up to half a percent) can safely be neglected.
Not all forces are contact forces; for example, the weight of an object is the force between the object and the Earth, even though the two do not need to make contact. Gravitational forces, electrical forces and magnetic forces are body forces and can exist without contact occurring.
In physics, a force field is a vector field corresponding with a non-contact force acting on a particle at various positions in space. Specifically, a force field is a vector field F {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} } , where F ( r ) {\displaystyle \mathbf {F} (\mathbf {r} )} is the force that a particle would feel if it were at the position r ...
In mechanics, the net force is the sum of all the forces acting on an object. For example, if two forces are acting upon an object in opposite directions, and one force is greater than the other, the forces can be replaced with a single force that is the difference of the greater and smaller force. That force is the net force. [1]