ADVANCED PHYSICS
| A force is a push, pull or twist that can be exerted on a body or object.
A force is a vector quantity, requiring magnitude, direction and a point
of application for its description.
Consider Newton's First law of motion, which states: An object will remain at rest or continue with uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by some external force. Therefore in order to change the motion of a body a force must be applied. For example, a spacecraft in space will travel with a constant speed and in a straight line, unless it experiences a force from the gravitational field of a planet attracting it, or its engines creating thrust. To change the motion or velocity of a body, that is, to accelerate it, it requires a force. According to Newton's 2nd law: The acceleration of a body is proportional to the applied force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the body or F = m a Where F is the force in N, m is the mass of the body in Kg, and a is the acceleration in m/s |