Questions tagged [forces]

This tag is for the classical concept of forces, i.e. the quantities causing an acceleration of a body. It expands to the strong/electroweak force only insofar as they act comparable to ‘classical’ forces. Use the [particle-physics] tag for decay channels due to forces and [newtonian-mechanics] or one of the other subtopics of [classical-mechanics] for the dynamics of classical systems.

When to Use this Tag

Use when discussing the origin or action of classical forces, i.e. quantities causing an acceleration of a body. If you already know all forces relevant to your question and are now interested in the dynamics of the problem, use instead. You might also want to tag the question as one of the other tags mentioned in . If you know the source of a (classical) force, tag the question as , , etc., too.
For a quantum field theoretic approach to forces, use either and/or .

Introduction

Newton’s Laws are based on the idea of forces, quantities that cause the body they act on to accelerate proportional to their magnitude and parallel to their direction. Forces can have many different origins, but most of these can be traced back to four fundamental forces: gravity, electromagnetism, the weak interaction and the strong interaction. Only gravity and electromagnetism can be described in a classical setting.

The most important property of the forces acting on a body is that they sum up. That is, to find the net force acting on a body (the $\vec F$ in Newton’s second law), one can sum over all external forces $\vec F_i$ acting on said body:

$$ \tag{1} \sum_i \vec F_i = m \vec a \quad.$$

It is often difficult to find the forces relevant to a problem at hand. Lagrangian mechanics solves this by deriving the equations of motion (such as (1)) from the variational principle.

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Why do ballpoint pens write better on pages that have pages below them?

If I write on the starting page of a notebook, it will write well. But when there are few or no pages below the page where I am writing, the pen will not write well. Why does this happen?
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Why are four-legged chairs so common?

Four-legged chairs are by far the most common form of chair. However, only three legs are necessary to maintain stability whilst sitting on the chair. If the chair were to tilt, then with both a four-legged and three-legged chair, there is only one…
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How do towels stay on hooks?

Towels (and coats) are often stored on hooks, like this: To the untrained eye, it looks like the towel will slide off from its own weight. The hook usually angles upwards slightly, but a towel does not have any "handle" to string around and hang on…
Caleb Stanford
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Why do we bend a book to keep it straight?

I noticed that I have been bending my book all along, when I was reading it with one hand. This also works for plane flexible sheets of any material. Illustration using an A4 sheet Without bending the sheet: With a bend along perpendicular axis How…
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Given Newton's third law, why are things capable of moving?

Given Newton's third law, why is there motion at all? Should not all forces even themselves out, so nothing moves at all? When I push a table using my finger, the table applies the same force onto my finger like my finger does on the table just with…
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Does a particle exert force on itself?

We all have elaborative discussion in physics about classical mechanics as well as interaction of particles through forces and certain laws which all particles obey. I want to ask, does a particle exert a force on itself? EDIT– Thanks for the…
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Why does Newton's Third Law actually work?

My father explained to me how rockets work and he told me that Newton's Third Law of motion worked here. I asked him why it works and he didn't answer. I have wasted over a week thinking about this problem and now I am giving up. Can anyone explain…
user164594
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Why does a helium filled balloon move forward in a car when the car is accelerating?

I noticed that when I had a helium filled, latex balloon inside of my car, it moved forward in the cabin as I accelerated forward. The faster I accelerated forward, the faster the balloon went from the back of the car to the front of the car. The…
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How can I stand on the ground? EM or/and Pauli?

There is this famous example about the order difference between gravitational force and EM force. All the gravitational force of Earth is just countered by the electromagnetic force between the electrons on the surface of my feet and the ground. But…
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Toilet paper dilemma

There are two ways to orient the toilet paper: "over" (left image), "under" (right image). Each has it's pros and cons. For some reason, it's always easier to tear off the paper in the "over" orientation even though we apply the same force thus same…
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Are Newton's "laws" of motion laws or definitions of force and mass?

If you consider them as laws, then there must be independent definitions of force and mass but I don't think there's such definitions. If you consider them as definitions, then why are they still called laws?
user5402
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If gravity isn't a force, then why do we learn in school that it is?

I have studied some of Einstein's Theory of General Relativity, and I understand that it states that gravity isn't a force but rather the effects of objects curving space-time. If this is true, then why are we instructed in middle school that it is…
Peter Hall
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Which is stronger, a rope without knots or a rope with knots?

Suppose I have two identical ropes, one of which I manually tie some knots in. If I use them to hang clothes, which one is more durable? Personally I think that rope with knots will be more durable, but I can't come up with a satisfactory reason.
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Does juggling balls reduce the total weight of the juggler and balls?

A friend offered me a brain teaser to which the solution involves a $195$ pound man juggling two $3$-pound balls to traverse a bridge having a maximum capacity of only $200$ pounds. He explained that since the man only ever holds one $3$-pound…
adamdport
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Why does a billiard ball stop when it hits another billiard ball head on?

( I'm repeating myself a lot here, but it's because I want to make my confusion clear. ) If 2 billiard balls are the same exact mass, and one hits another stationary one head on, I have heard that the hitting ball will often stop entirely while the…
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