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Chapter 4: Problem 4

Does a body necessarily move in the direction of the net force acting on it?

Short Answer

Expert verified
No, a body does not necessarily move in the direction of the net force acting on it. The net force changes the body’s velocity—and hence its direction of motion—but it does not instantly make the body move in the direction of the force. The body's motion direction will be a compromise between itsinitial direction of motion before the force acted and the force's direction. This is particularly noticeable when the body already had significant velocity in a different direction before the force started acting. In which case, the body would continue to move in a direction which is the vector sum of the original direction and the direction of the force.

Step by step solution

01

Understanding Motion

Understand that a body moves due to the influence of the forces acting on it. However, its motion is not solely dictated by the current forces exerted on it but also depends on its initial velocity. In a vacuum, without friction or air resistance, a body would keep moving at a constant velocity if no other forces acted on it. If a force is exerted, it modifies this state of motion, but not necessarily in the direction of the force.
02

Analyzing The Role of Force

Consider that a force acting on a body changes its velocity by causing an acceleration. This acceleration occurs in the direction of the force. A body could thus continue to move in a direction different than the net force if it already had a considerable velocity in some direction before the force started acting.
03

Effect of Net Force

Understand that the net force only changes the direction of the object's velocity vector towards the force direction. It doesn't instantly shift the object's motion path towards the force direction. If the object was in motion, part of its velocity vector would remain in the original direction even after acceleration starts. The final motion direction will be a resulting vector depending on the original velocity before the net force acted (also known as inertia) and the acceleration due to the force.

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