ABSTRACT

So far two kinds of motion have been presented, motion in one and two dimensions. These were described in Chapters 2 and 3. The two chapters dealt with the kinematics of motion. The kinematics of an object results from the forces acting on it. Once a force acts on an object, it creates an acceleration of the object. This acceleration changes the object’s velocity in value, or in direction, or both. If such changes are limited to just the magnitude of the velocity, the object then changes its position in a nonlinear form (see Equation 2.12). However, if such changes are limited to just a uniform change in the direction of the velocity, the object then changes its position, tracing a circular path in what is called uniform circular motion (see Section 3.4). In this chapter, the dynamics of objects in a variety of situations will be discussed by dealing with the laws that govern the forces acting on these objects. The treatment comes through three laws stated by Newton that are known as Newton’s laws of motion and will be of objects in both linear and circular motions.