Introductory Classical Mechanics Videos

Chapter 2: Newton's Laws

This chapter introduces Newton's Laws as the patterns of nature that govern forces, the fundamental interactions that drive kinematics. The underlying concepts of Newton's laws are explored, including the concept of mass as the inertial quantity that resists acceleration, and the action-reaction nature of forces. Fundamental and common force laws are examined, and approaches to solving kinematics problems in cases of force balance and net force & acceleration are explored.

Concept Videos

2.1C: Newton's Laws of Motion

This concept video describes the historical origins and definitions of Newton's Laws, including a focus on the concepts of inertia, forces, and action-reaction, and a discussion of the scope over which Newton's Laws apply.

2.2C: Fundamental Forces: Gravity

This concept video describes the fundamental forces of nature, with a focus on gravitation, including its manifestation as weight on the surface of the Earth (and weightlessness in orbit), the universal law of gravitation and its relevance to Kepler's Laws of planetary motion, and similarities and differences between gravity and electrostatic force.

2.3C: Solving Newtonian Force Problems

This concept video introduces an approach to solving problems of classical mechanics in the framework of Newton's Laws, including how to set up the problem, drawing force (free-body) diagrams, turning these into equations of motion, finding a solution, and then verifying the solution through unit checks and extreme cases.

2.4C: Contact Forces: Normal and Friction Forces

This concept video explores the surface contact forces of normal force and friction force, describing how these forces arise, the directions they act, action-reaction pairs, and their relationship in the context of static, sliding, and rolling friction.

2.5C: Fluid Forces: Viscosity, Buoyancy, & Pressure

This concept video explores the fluid forces of viscosity, buoyancy, and pressure, describing their origins in interactions of fluids and solid bodies, and introducing related concepts of terminal velocity, floating, and how rocket engines work.

2.6C: Strings, Pulleys, and Springs

This concept video explores the forces of tension and elasticity that are present for ropes and springs, with applications in pendula, pulley systems, and tendons in the body; and a detailed look at the restorative spring force that gives rise to simple harmonic motion.

Problem Solving Videos

2.1P: Setting up Force Diagrams

This problem solving video reviews how to set up force (or free body) diagrams, through various examples highlight surface contact forces, weight, tension, and gravitation, highlighting how to decompose force vectors along coordinate axes and accounting for action-reaction pairs in interacting bodies.

2.2P: Solving Statics Problems

This problem solving video explores solutions to problems involving statics, or when forces are in balance, through examples involving contact forces, weight, and tension.

Notes

2.3P: Solving Kinetics Problems

This problem solving video explores solutions to problems in which a net force causes an object to acceleration, with three examples that demonstrate the steps of setting up the force diagram, finding equations of motion, and solving for kinematic quantities for cases of constant acceleration for linear and circular motion.

Notes

2.4P: Solving Friction Problems

This problem solving video explores various friction problems, including static and kinetic friction, and sliding and rolling friction, through three illustrative examples.

Notes

2.5P: Case Study: The Inclined Plane

This problem solving video examines in detail the specific case of the inclined plane, looking at three examples in which there is no friction, in which friction holds an object in place, and in which friction and tension act in opposition.

Notes

2.6P: Case Study: The Pulley

This problem solving video examines in detail the case of pulley systems, in which a string wrapped around multiple anchor points can create a tension force multiplier; the video reviews simple pulleys, a block-and-tackle system, and a compound pulley system.

Notes

2.7P: Case Study: The Atwood Machine

This problem solving video examines in detail the Atwood machine, a pair of objects connected by a string over a pulley system, as an example of coupled motion and action-reaction force pairs.

Notes

2.8P: Spring Motion

This problem solving video explores the mechanics of spring or elastic force, and the simple harmonic motion that arises from an oscillating spring.

Notes

2.9P: Solving Pendulum Problems

This problem solving video examines another case of simple harmonic motion in the swinging pendulum, showing how to use dimensional analysis to estimate the period of motion and the use of the small angle approximation to derive an analytical solution.

Notes

2.10P: Gravitational Force Problems

This problem solving video examines applications of Newton's gravitational force to describe 2-body orbits, forces of attraction in the Solar System, geosynchronous satellites, and the mass of the Milky Way.

Notes

2.11P: Drag Force

This problem solving video explores the velocity-dependent fluid drag force, in both linear and quadratic regimes, and how to solve for terminal velocity for falling objects.

2.12P: Underwater Pressure

This problem solving video explores the role of pressure force in fluid systems, and demonstrates why water pressure increases linearly with depth.

Notes

Bonus Videos

2.1B: Tides

This bonus video explores tides as an example of gravitational force interaction between the Earth and Moon.

Notes

2.2B: Tension in a Massive Rope

This bonus video illustrates how to explore the tension within a rope that has its own mass, illustrating how to examine force balance on a finite section of the rope and then integrate over the entire object.

Notes

2.3B: Numerical Techniques

This bonus video illustrates how to use numerical techniques to solve for a Newtonian force problem that doesn't have an analytical solution, using as an example the trajectory of a ball experiencing an inertial (quadratic) force.

Notes

Worksheets

Worksheet 2.1: Force Diagrams & Equations of Motion

This worksheet focuses on how to draw correct force (or free-body) diagrams, and transforming these diagrams into equations of motion (F = ma). Topics include: drawing force diagrams, accounting for interacting objects, and equations of motion. Match to videos 2.3C and 2.1P-2.3P

Worksheet 2.2: Force Statics & Dynamics

This worksheet examines how to analyze problems that result in force balance (statics) or acceleration (dynamics). Topics include: statics problems, dynamic problems, and circular motion. Match to videos 2.2P-2.7P

Worksheet 2.3: Force Laws

This worksheet explores the various force laws, with a focus on spring force, Newtonian gravitation, and fluid forces of buoyancy, pressure, and drag force. Match to videos 2.2C, 2.5C-2.6C, and 2.8P-2.11P

Introductory Classical Mechanics Videos were created by Adam Burgasser and the UCSD Educational Technology Services (ETS)

This material is released under the CC-BY-NC-SA license, which allows re-users to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format for noncommercial purposes only, and only so long as attribution is given to the creator. If you remix, adapt, or build upon the material, you must license the modified material under identical terms.

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