Download Inertial Reference Frame B: Not an inertial reference frame A

PHY131H1S – Class 9
Today:
• Equilibrium
• Mass, Weight, Gravity
This week: Take a ride in
the elevator!
Module 3, Activity 2
requires before-practical
prep-work, involving
observing the springscales in the Burton
Tower elevators.
• A car is driving at a steady speed on a
straight and level road.
Quick quiz [1/4]: inside the car, is it…
A: Inertial Reference Frame
B: Not an inertial reference frame
• A car is driving at a steady speed up a
10° incline.
• A car is speeding up after leaving a stop
sign, on a straight and level road.
Quick quiz [2/4]: inside the car, is it…
Quick quiz [3/4]: inside the car, is it…
A: Inertial Reference Frame
A: Inertial Reference Frame
B: Not an inertial reference frame
B: Not an inertial reference frame
• A car is driving at a steady speed around a
curve on a level road.
Quick quiz [4/4]: inside the car, is it…
A: Inertial Reference Frame
B: Not an inertial reference frame
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Key Skill:
Getting the piano on the truck
• A piano has a mass of 225 kg.
1. What force is required to push the piano
upwards at a constant velocity as you lift
it into the truck?
2. What force is required to push the piano
up a frictionless ramp at a constant
velocity into the truck? Assume the
ramp is 3 m long and the floor of the
truck is 1 m high?
Gravity
It was Newton who first recognized that gravity is an
attractive, long-range force between any two objects.
Somewhat more loosely, gravity is a force that acts on
mass. When two objects with masses m1 and m2 are
separated by distance r, each object pulls on the other
with a force given by Newton’s law of gravity, as
follows:
Mass
Mass is a scalar quantity that describes an object’s
inertia. Loosely speaking, it also describes the
amount of matter in an object. Mass is an intrinsic
property of an object. It tells us something about
the object, regardless of where the object is, what
it’s doing, or whatever forces may be acting on it.
Gravity
We can write the gravitational force even more simply as
where the quantity g is defined to be
2
Weight
When you weigh yourself, you stand on a spring scale and
compress a spring. With that in mind, let’s define the weight
of an object as the reading Fsp of a calibrated spring scale on
which the object is stationary. Because Fsp is a force, weight
is measured in Newtons.
If the scale is at rest relative to the earth, then the object
being weighed is in static equilibrium. The upward spring
force exactly balances the downward gravitational force, so
that Fsp = FG = mg.
Because we defined weight as the reading Fsp of a spring
scale, the weight of a stationary object is
Weight - example
• When I stand on a scale in my bathroom it
reads 185 pounds. 2.2 pounds = 9.8
Newtons, so this means the upward force
on my feet when I am standing still is 185
lbs (9.8 N / 2.2 lbs) = 824 N.
• If I ride an elevator which is accelerating
upward at 1.5 m/s2, what is the upward
force on my feet?
• [ Take a wild guess first: A: 824 N,
B: 950 N, C: 698 N, D: 0 N, E: –824 N ]
Pan balance on an elevator
You are attempting to pour
out 100 g of salt, using
a pan balance on an
elevator which is
accelerating upward at
1.5 m/s2. Will the
amount of salt you pour
be
A. Too much
B. Too little
C. The correct amount
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