Chapter 4

This semester,
we will cover

Newton’s Laws Of Motion Newtonian

mechanics,
Matter &
Fluids,
Oscillation &
Newton’s laws of motion have a special place in comparison with other physical laws Waves
such as Newton’s law of gravitation, Hooke’s law, Coulomb’s law, etc. The other and Thermo-
laws tell us about properties of particular interactions. On the other hand, Newton’s dynamics.
laws of motion tell us the framework to formulate these physical laws. Because of
Newton’s laws of motion, physicists realize that we should try to understand various
interactions through the notion of force.
Q: Which of the following theories, like Newton’s law, establish frameworks for in-
dividual physical laws of specific interactions? (1) Special Relativity, (2) Quantum
Mechanics, (3) General Relativity.
There is another class of physical laws: thermodynamics, fluid dynamics. They
describe macroscopic phenomena in which Newton’s laws of motion are hidden in the
microscopic world.
Newton’s laws of motion only apply to non-relativistic objects (objects moving at
a velocity v ⌧ c). It does not apply to photons (or the EM field).
Q: What are the
minimal
• 1st Law (Law of Inertia)
assumptions
In an inertial frame, the velocity of any object (physical system) is constant in behind each
the absence of force. Newtons’ law?

– We have to investigate all objects under no force in the same frame. (Any
object is always at rest in its rest frame.)
– We can first apply Newton’s laws only to point masses, and then deduce
the behavior of objects of finite size from all Newton’s laws.

– Q: What is the definition of an inertial frame?

Benson: “A reference frame in which Newton’s first law is valid is called Q: Is an inertial
an inertial reference frame. In fact, the first law is used to define such a frame global?

frame.”

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 – Q: Is the 1st law a definition of the inertial frame?
Why is it not called the “first definition”?

– Q: How to decide whether there is no force? Q: Is locality

assumed?
– Q: Is the 1st law a definition of “no force”?
– The 1st law seems to apply to objects in an elevator in free fall.
Q: Can we say that it is an inertial frame and gravity is no force?
– If an object is very far away from everything else (assuming everything is
Imagine being a
visible...), can we assume that the force acting on this object is small? tiny sea creature
who has never
– Q: How to define distance and direction?
left the sea.
The space is a 3D Euclidean (vector) space. Q: Is space-time
flat?
– Q: To define velocity, we need to define time. How to define time?

– Q: Is it a special case of the 2nd law?

– It clarifies the misconception that “objects naturally slow down to rest”.
At Newton’s
– The “natural state” of an object is moving at a constant velocity. Only a time, the 1st law
change of this state needs to be explained (by a force as in the 2nd law, or may appear to be
counter-intuitive.
by a non-inertial frame).
– Sir Arthur Eddington described the 1st law as “Every body continues in
its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line; except in so far as it
doesn’t! ”
– Newton’s statement: “Every body perseveres in its state of rest, or of uni-
form motion in a straight line, unless it is compelled to change that state
by forces impressed thereon.”
– At Newton’s time, the notion of an absolute rest frame of the universe
The notion of an
is natural. It is a coincidence that Newton’s laws apply to all frames at absolute rest
constant velocity with respect to the absolute rest frame. It is expected frame is
that other laws (e.g. the laws of electromagnetism) would take a simpler abandoned in
form in the absolute rest frame. special relativity.

– Q: Is it possible to falsify the 1st law?

– The 1st law claims the existence of an inertial frame when everything is
far from everything else, assuming that everything is visible.

A reference frame involves a system of observers (or apparatuses) covering a suffi-

ciently large region of space and time. Each observer is at rest with respect to others
and carries a clock that is synchronized with others’ clocks.

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• 2nd Law
In an inertial frame, F = ma, where F is the force (a vector), m is the
inertial mass and a is the acceleration (a vector).

– Q: What is the definition of F?

– Q: What are the assumptions about F? Superposition

principle: If the
– Imagine how hard it would be to study physics if the simultaneous presence mass/charge is
of F1 and F2 is not equivalent to F1 + F2 . doubled, the
force is doubled.
– Q: What is the definition of m?

– Q: What are the assumptions about the inertial mass m?

The mass m is an additive inherent property of the object and it is in-
dependent of the force and other conditions (e.g. temperature, altitude,
etc.).

– Q: Can m be negative?

– Q: How do you falsify the 2nd law?

– The 2nd law tells us to understand physical phenomena by studying the
forces, e.g., Hooke’s law, Coulomb’s law.
– We are lucky that the only long range forces in nature are gravity and
Other alien
electromagnetism, and that they can be easily distinguished. civilizations may
not be so lucky.
In a different civilization, it is possible that force is first defined, say, by how much a
standard spring extends in length. Mass can be defined by a reference object, while
the distance can be defined by the size of the king’s feet. Newton’s 2nd law would
then involve a physical constant k so that F = kma. They could have developed an
intuition about the force and refuse to identify the units to set k = 1.

• 3rd Law
In an inertial frame, there is a reaction force on A by B opposite to every force
on B by A.

– Q: Is every force associated with a unique source?

– Q: Are there forces without a localized source?

Q: When an EM wave hits a charge, how does the charge back react?

– Q: Why are there no 3-body interactions?

– Q: Is there a different way to state this law? Momentum

conservation.
– Q: Why should all kinds of forces obey this law?

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 The 3rd law is crucial for the self-consistency of Newton’s laws if objects can be
bound (“glued”) together to make a bigger object. Consider two objects of masses m1
and m2 bound together. There are external forces F1 on m1 and F2 on m2 . There
is thus a total external force of F1 + F2 acting on the total mass of m1 + m2 . The
acceleration of the system is thus
F1 + F 2
a= . (4.1)
m1 + m2
Now consider m1 and m2 individually. Let the force on m1 by m2 be F12 and the
force on m2 by m1 be F21 , hence the total force on m1 is F1 + F12 and that on m2 is
F2 + F21 . The acceleration of m1 and that of m2 are thus
F1 + F12 F2 + F21
a1 = , a2 = . (4.2)
m1 m2
However, both a1 and a2 must be equal to a. This implies that
F12 + F21 = 0. (4.3)

Exercise: Express Newton’s 2nd law in polar coordinates for a point particle moving
in 2D. More precisely, express it in terms of Fr , F✓ , as well as 1st and 2nd time
derivatives of r(t) and ✓(t).

4.1 Properties Of Physical Laws

4.1.1 Validity
Physical laws are only valid up to the point where they are tested.
Newton’s laws are no longer a good approximation when the velocity of an object
is not much smaller than the speed of light.
In Special Relativity, we can imagine expanding all physical quantities in powers of
v/c, and Newtonian mechanics corresponds to the limit c ! 1.

In the unit system in which all quantities are of order 1, the velocity of light must
be very large for the Newtonian approximation to be good.
Newton’s laws are no longer a good approximation when ~ is not extremely small
in the unit system in which all quantities are of order 1.
Q: Are there other parameter regimes in which Newton’s laws could be significantly
modified?

4.1.2 Determinism
If F is known for everything, the evolution of everything can be uniquely determined
by the initial positions rA (t0 ) and velocities vA (t0 ) of everything at an initial time t0
through Newton’s 2nd law F = ma.

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4.1.3 Translation Symmetry
Physical laws are invariant under translations, which can be interpreted as a shift
of the origin of the coordinate system, say, from 0 to a given location r0 . Under a
By identifying
translation by r0 , each position vector r transforms as the force F0 after
the translation
r ! r0 = r r0 . (4.4) with the force F
before the
Exercise: Prove that F = ma is invariant under translation for an arbitrary shift of translation, all
origin by a constant vector r0 . assumptions
about forces are
We can think of a translation either as a passive transformation, which shifts the
preseved.
origin as described above, or as an active transformation in which all points are moved
to a new position.
Q: What is the difference between active and passive transformations?

4.1.4 Rotation Symmetry

Physical laws are invariant under rotations.
A 3D rotation is specified by an axis of rotation and an angle.
Exercise: Find the matrix M for a rotation along the z-axis by an angle ✓.
Solution:
Under a 3D rotation around the z-axis by an angle ✓, the new coordinates (x0 , y 0 , z 0 ) of a
point (x, y, z) are
0 1 0 1 0 10 1
x x0 cos ✓ sin ✓ 0 x
B C B 0 C B CB C
@ y A ! @ y A @ sin ✓ cos ✓ 0 A @ y A .
= (4.5)
z z0 0 0 1 z

Q: Assuming the right-hand rule, is this an active or a passive transformation?

In general, a rotation changes all vectors by

v ! v0 , (4.6)

where
3
X
0i
v = M ij vj (4.7)
j=1

for some matrix M .

Exercise: Check that the norm of a vector is invariant under rotations.
Exercise: Prove that F = ma is invariant under an arbitrary rotation, assuming
that F and a are vectors.
Q: Which of the following cannot be valid physical laws assuming rotation symmetry?

1. A = 1

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 2. A = 0

3. A · B = C

4. A ⇥ (B ⇥ C) = E

5. A ⇥ B = C · D

6. A(B + C) ⇥ D · E = 0

4.1.5 Galilean Symmetry

Galilean
In addition to translation symmetry and rotation symmetry, Newton’s laws of motion
symmetry is
are also invariant under Galilean transformations. They are transformations relating modified in
one inertial frame to another inertial frame. An example of Galilean transformations special relativity,
is while translation
and rotation
(x, y, z) ! (x0 = x vt, y 0 = y, z 0 = z), (4.8) symmetries are
not.
0
t ! t = t. (4.9)

Exercise: Verify that Newton’s laws are invariant under Galilean transformations.

4.2 Non-Inertial Frames

Q: What is the fictitious force in a rocket at the acceleration a in space?
Q: What is the fictitious force in a free-fall frame? Does it exactly cancel the gravi-
tational force?
HW: (2-1) Coriolis Force Consider a particle of mass m in 2D moving at a constant
This explains the
velocity v in the radial direction with the trajectory direction of the
vortex in a
x = vt, y = 0. (4.10)
typhoon, but not
that in a toilet.
What is the fictitious force on the particle with respect to a rotation frame at
angular frequency !? (Define ! by the right-hand rule.) Express your result in Q: How would
ˆ
polar coordinates as Ff ict = Fr r̂ + F✓ ✓. the answer be
modified if the
Q: Following the homework question above, how is the radial component ma0r of the
motion has
fictitious forace related to the centrifugal force? nonzero
Q: Does Newton’s law preserve its form in a rotating frame? acceleration?

Exercise: Check that the transformation rule from Cartesian coordinates (x, y) to
polar coordinates (r, ✓) is given by

x = r cos ✓, y = r sin ✓, (4.11)

ˆ
x̂ = cos ✓r̂ sin ✓✓, ˆ
ŷ = sin ✓r̂ + cos ✓✓. (4.12)

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4.3 Examples
Prove the first
1. A force F observed in a reference frame A remains the same in another reference
three statements
frame B moving at constant velocity with respect to A. with Newton’s
laws.
2. (tension) The tension T on an infinitesimal segment of a massless string/rope
is equal in magnitude but opposite in direction on the two endpoints of the The notion of
infinitesimal segment. tension relies on
the 3rd law.
3. (centripetal force) The centripetal force F for a circular motion with radius r
and velocity v is
mv 2
F = r̂ . (4.13)
r
4. (normal force) The normal force N on an object by a surface in contact is
always perpendicular to the surface.

5. (static friction) The friction of a static object satisfies the inequality |Ff r | 
µs N , where N is the magnitude of the normal force, and µs is the coefficient
of static friction. The direction of the friction is perpendicular to the normal
force.

6. (kinetic friction) The friction of a moving object satisfies Ff r = µk N , where

µk is the coefficient of kinetic friction. The direction of the friction is opposite
to the velocity of the moving body. For the same object and surface, normally
Q: Is it possible
µs µk .
to have
7. (drag force) The drag force is often roughly approximated by F = v. µ s < µk ?

8. (Hooke’s law) For a spring with the spring constant k, its force on an object
attached to it is F = k r.

9. (Gravitational force) The gravitational force on an object on the earth is Fgrav =

mgẑ.

10. (Newton’s law of gravitation) The gravitational force on m at r by M at the

origin is Fgrav = GM
r2
m
r̂, where G is Newton’s constant.

Q: How many different types of forces are there?

Comments:

• free-body diagram: This is the most

Newton’s laws demand that all interactions appear as forces, and each free important
body move according to the superposition of all forces. strategy of
solving these
• The examples below are concerned with contact forces. Gravity and Coulomb’s problems.
force are examples of actions at a distance that we will discuss later.

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 • Some of the problems would be easier to solve by applying the conservation
laws of energy and momentum.

4.3.1 Pull And Push

Exercise: McQueen accelerated from rest at full power but was suddenly stops at
the distance of 20 meters by a police, accusing him of speeding. McQueen’s mass is
M = 1000kg and has a maximal engine force of F = 10000N . What was McQueen’s
maximal speed before he was stopped by the cop?
Exercise: Following the previous exercise, assume that the coefficient of friction
between the tires and the road is µ = 1, and the wheels can stop instantaneously.
(Use g = 10m/s2 .) What was McQueen’s maximal speed?

4.3.2 Slides
Draw “free-body
Exercise: A block of mass m slides down a (fixed) slope. The length of the slide diagrams”.
is L, the gravitational constant is g, the angle of the slope is ✓ and the coefficient of
friction is µ. How much time does it take?

Exercise: A block of mass m slides down a wedge of mass M . Assume no friction

and both are initially at rest. Given the angle ✓ of the slope of the wedge, find the
horizontal accelerations of the block and the wedge.

4.3.3 Pulleys
Exercise: Two masses m1 and m2 are tied on pulleys as shown. What is the accel-
eration of m1 ? (Ignore the friction and the masses of ropes and pulleys.)

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HW: (2-2) Three masses m1 , m2 and m3 are tied on pulleys as shown. What is the
acceleration of m1 ? (Ignore the friction and the masses of ropes and pulleys.)

4.3.4 Continuous Objects

Q: Can we think of a continuous object as a system of infinitely many particles?

Spring

Exercise: A uniform spring of spring constant k and length L is divided evenly into
N small springs. What is the spring constant of each small spring? What is the
spring constant per unit length?
Exercise: A uniform spring of spring constant k and natural length L is parametrized
by a parameter from 0 to L from one end of the spring to the other end uniformly.
When the spring is stretched by a force F along the x-axis, each point on the spring
is stretched to a point with the x-coordinate x( ). For convenience, assume that
x = when F = 0. As the spring is uniform, we expect that dx/d is a constant.
What is the relation between F and dx/d ?
Solution:
For the total change in length x, the force is

F = k( x L)
✓Z L ◆
dx
=k d L
d
✓0 ◆
dx
= kL 1 . (4.14)
d

Q: How is the tension on a point on the spring considered in the exercise above related
to dx/d at that point? Does the relation (4.14) apply when the tension is different
at other points on the spring?
HW: (2-3) A uniform spring of total mass M with the spring constant k has length
L when it is not stretched. How long does it become when it is hung from the ceiling
from one end at equilibrium? (The gravitational constant is g.)

4.4 What Is Behind Newton’s Laws’s Success

4.4.1 Center Of Mass
An object is typically composed of smaller parts. Newton’s laws of motion are useful
only if they apply to all the objects, including all different parts of the objects.
The object also
Consider an object composed of many small particles. We label each particle by
looks like a
a number i = 1, 2, · · · , N . Define the center of mass of the big particle by the
particle from
distance, while
30 the small
particles may
also consist of
many tiny
particles.
weighed average position X mi
rCM ⌘ ri , (4.15)
i
M
where X
M⌘ mi (4.16)
i

is the total mass.

The center of mass is a good representation for the position of the object because
if all the particles satisfy Newton’s laws, the object also satisfies the Newton’s laws
if its position is defined by the center of mass.
Let us now verify this claim. Assume that, for all the particles,

Fi = m i a i (4.17)

d 2 ri
where ai ⌘ dt2
. The force Fi on the i-th particle is
X
Fi ⌘ Fext
i + Fij , (4.18)
j6=i

where Fij is the force on the i-th particle due to the j-th particle, and Fext
i is the
total force due to other systems.
Therefore,

d2 rCM X X
M = m i a i = Fi
dt2 i i
" #
X X
= Fext
i + Fij , (4.19)
i j6=i

where the first term is the total force on the N particles as a system
Show that
X P P
j6=i Fij =
Fext
tot ⌘ Fext
i , (4.20) i
0.
i

and the 2nd term vanishes. Hence we find that the whole system as an object located
on its center of mass satisfies Newton’s 2nd law:

Fext
tot = M aCM . (4.21)

In the derivation above, we have used the 3rd law. Hence the 3rd law is important
for Newton’s 2nd law to be applicable to macroscopic objects.
The discovery of physical laws relies on the hierarchy of scales: Little is needed to
know about microscopic states or microscopic physics when we look at macroscopic
objects and macroscopic physics. It would be hard to understand physics or make
predictions if this were not true.

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Q: What will happen if the physical laws for point masses are different from the
physical laws for composite systems of point masses? (For instance, what will happen
if Newton’s 3rd law is modified?)
Q: Why is small-scale physics unnecessary when we look at large-scale physics?
Q: Will we continue to be so lucky?
Exercise: Consider an object of mass m bound with another object of mass m.
The forces F12 and F21 on each other satisfy the 3rd law and there is no other force
Would there be
present. How would you predict the behavior of this bound system? violation of
energy or
momentum?
4.4.2 Tolerance Of Measurement Error
This is why
Q: If our physical laws apply to the approximate motion of a particle, will they also
computer
apply to the exact motion? simulation can
Q: If our physical laws apply to the exact motion of a particle, will they also apply work.
to the approximate (time-averaged) motion?
Exercise: Let the force on a particle of mass m in 1D be F (t) = A cos(!t) with a
large angular frequency ! = 2⇡ T
. Find the general solution of the trajectory of the
particle x(t), and find the relation between
Think of F̄ (t)
Z t+T /2 and x̄(t) as the
1
F̄ (t) ⌘ dt0 F (t0 ). (4.22) approximate
T t T /2
force and
d2 x̄(t) position for
and ā(t) defined by ā(t) ⌘ dt2
, where
measurements at
Z t+T /2 a larger time
1
x̄(t) ⌘ dt0 x(t0 ). (4.23) scale.
T t T /2

Q: What is the property of the Newton’s law that guarantees the tolerance of mea-
surement error at small scales?
When you put
down a probe to
detect
something, the
probe always has
a finite size.

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