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{excerpt}An interaction which produces a change in the motion of an object.{excerpt} ||Page Contents|| |{toc:indent=10px}| h2. Motivation for Concept Consider a bowling ball (or some other heavy object). If you want the ball to move, you have to interact with it. If you want the moving ball to turn, you have to interact with it. If you want the ball to stop moving, you have to interact with it. In physics, such interactions are called forces. If you want to move the ball, you will probably have to apply a contact force by using your hands or feet. There are other kinds of forces, however. The earth, for example, can alter the ball's motion through the invisible
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Excerpt

Force produces a change in the momentum of a mass on which it acts, according to F=ma (Newton's Second Law). Forces result from various types of physical interactions, which always generate a pair of opposite forces acting on two different objects (Newton's Third Law).

Historically the first mathematical description of interactions was by forces and force laws, and this formulation is still the most commonly used in Newtonian Mechanics. In the traditional approach to Newtonian Mechanics, all other descriptions of interactions (e.g. potential energy) are defined in terms of force. In this WIKI, "force" is often used interchangeably with "interaction". For example, the earth and the moon are attracted by the force of gravity, OR by their gravitational interaction.

Motivation for Concept

Consider a bowling ball (or some other heavy object that moves with little resistance). If you want a stationary ball to move, you have to exert a force on it in the direction you want it to move, which will accelerate it. If you want the moving ball to turn, you have to exert a force on it toward the side you want it to turn toward. If you want the ball to stop moving, you have to exert a force opposite to its velocity.  To change the motion of the bowling ball, you will probably apply a force by using your hands or feet or some object you push against the ball. There are other kinds of forces, however. The earth, for example, can alter the ball's motion through the invisible action-at-a-distance

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of

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gravity, often represented as a gravitational field acting on the body at the site of the body.

Newton's

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Laws

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Newton's

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famous

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Three

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Laws

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of Motion together comprise his definition of force.

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  • Law:
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    Newton's First Law
    Newton's First Law
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  • Newton's Second Law:
    Excerpt Include
    Newton's Second Law
    Newton's Second Law
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  • Newton's Third Law:
    Excerpt Include
    Newton's Third Law
    Newton's Third Law
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Classification of Forces

There are many ways to classify forces. For the purposes of the modeling approach to physics, the most important classifications to understand are Internal vs. External and Conservative vs. Non-Conservative. Another commonly encountered classification of forces is by their status as "fundamental" vs. phenomenological.

Internal vs. External

  • Internal Force:
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    internal force
    internal force
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  • External Force:
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    external force
    external force
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Conservative vs. Non-Conservative

Fundamental vs. Phenomenological