PHYSICS 6A Lecture Notes - Lecture 10: Inertial Frame Of Reference, Net Force, Contact Force
Document Summary
Force (f): a vector quantity that exerts a push or pull on an object. Contact force: force exerted when one object is in contact with another object. E. g. person throwing a ball or pushing a box, hammer hitting a nail, friction, etc. Every object continues in its state of rest, or of uniform velocity in a straight line, as long as no net force acts on it. If you slide a ball on the ground, it will eventually stop due to friction (the force acting on it and slowing it down) If you throw a ball in space, the ball will continue traveling in a straight line in that direction at a constant velocity until another force acts on it. Inertia refers to an object maintaining its constant velocity; newton"s 1st law is sometimes called the law of inertia. Newton"s 1st law holds only in an inertial reference frame. Mass is an inherent property of an object.
