From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to navigation Jump to search

In physics, a force is an interaction that causes an affected object to be pushed or pulled in a certain direction. This results in an alteration to the state of the object's momentum. Forces causes objects to accelerate, add to the object's overall pressure, change direction, or change shape. The strength of a force is measured in Newtons (N). There are four fundamental forces in physics.


Newton's Second Law[change | change source]


where is the force,
is the mass of an object,
and is the acceleration of the object.


Weight[change | change source]

Gravity is an acceleration. Everything that has a mass is being pulled toward the Earth because of that acceleration. This pull is a force called weight.

One can take the equation above and change to the standard gravity g, then a formula about the gravity on earth can be found:

where is the weight of an object,
is the mass of an object,
and is the acceleration due to gravity at sea level. It is about .


Force is a vector, so it can be stronger or weaker and it can also point in different directions. Gravity always points down into the ground (if you are not in space).

Gravitational force[change | change source]

Another equation that says something about gravity is:

is force; is the gravitational constant, which is used to show how gravity accelerates an object; is the mass of one object; is the mass of the second object; and is the distance between the objects.



Further reading[change | change source]