Understand the concept of a force; understand and use Newton’s first law.

Forces Newton's first law

Understand and use Newton’s second law for motion in a straight line (restricted to forces in two perpendicular directions or simple cases of forces given as 2D vectors); extend to situations where forces need to be resolved (restricted to 2 dimensions).

Newton's second law for motion in a straight line

Understand and use weight and motion in a straight line under gravity; gravitational acceleration, \(g\) , and its value in SI units to varying degrees of accuracy.

(The inverse square law for gravitation is not required and \(g\) may be assumed to be constant, but students should be aware that \(g\) is not a universal constant but depends on location).

Weight and motion in a straight line under gravity

Understand and use Newton’s third law; equilibrium of forces on a particle and motion in a straight line (restricted to forces in two perpendicular directions or simple cases of forces given as 2D vectors); application to problems involving smooth pulleys and connected particles; resolving forces in 2 dimensions; equilibrium of a particle under coplanar forces.

Newton's third law Equilibrium of forces on a particle Smooth pulleys Connected particles

Understand and use addition of forces; resultant forces; dynamics for motion in a plane.

Resultant forces and dynamics for motion in a plane

Understand and use the \(F ≤ \mu R\) model for friction; coefficient of friction; motion of a body on a rough surface; limiting friction and statics.

Friction