Work through the list without notes. If you cannot do a statement, follow its link, then come back. Guide = study guide; Practice = practice questions.
Understanding
- I can describe any force as an interaction, naming the object it acts on and the object that exerts it. (Guide: “A force is an interaction”; Practice Q1)
- I can explain why an object or system cannot exert a net force on itself. (Guide: “No object can push itself”; Practice Q7)
- I can tell contact forces from long-range forces, and explain that contact forces come from electric forces between atoms. (Guide: “Contact forces and long-range forces”; Practice Q5)
- I can state the direction of the gravitational, normal, friction and tension forces in a given situation. (Guide: forces table; Practice Q2)
Skills
- I can draw a free-body diagram with a dot, one labelled straight arrow per force, sensible relative lengths, and same-direction forces side by side. (Guide: “What a free-body diagram shows”, Figure 1; Practice Q5, Q6)
- I can keep components off the free-body diagram and work them out in a separate sketch. (Guide: Figure 1; Practice Q2)
- I can choose axes with one axis along the acceleration, including tilted axes on a ramp. (Guide: “Choosing axes”; Practice Q4)
- I can resolve gravity into mg sin θ along a ramp and mg cos θ into it, and check the result with θ = 0. (Guide: Worked example 2; Practice Q4)
- I can turn a free-body diagram into one equation per axis when the forces balance. (Guide: Worked examples 1 and 2; Practice Q4, Q5)
Reasoning
- I can explain how choosing a different system changes which forces appear on the diagram. (Guide: Worked example 3; Practice Q3, Q6)
- I can reject a force that has no object exerting it, such as a “force of the throw”. (Guide: “Common misconceptions”; Practice Q1, Q2)
- I can explain why the normal force is not always equal to mg. (Guide: Worked example 1)
All ticked? Move on to Topic 2.3, Newton’s Third Law, or return to the course roadmap.