Practice Drawing Free-body Diagrams Renate Fiora

Drawing a Free-Body Diagram 1.Make a drawing of the system, identifying all the forces acting on the object. 2.Draw a coordinate system. – Your fbd axis should be the same as it was defined in your picture. Generally, the x-axis should parallel the direction of motion. 3.Represent the object as a dot at the origin of the coordinate axes. 4.Draw vectors representing each of the identified forces. 5.Draw and label the net force vector, F net.

Example: A tow rope pulls a skier up a snow-covered hill at a constant speed. Draw a free-body diagram for the skier. Try it on your own, then advance to the next slide to see the solution.

1.Picture 2. Coordinate axis 3. Dot 4. Force vectors 5. Net Force Example: A tow rope pulls a skier up a snow-covered hill at a constant speed. Draw a free-body diagram for the skier. +x +y FWFW FNFN F net Final fbd Tension, F T Weight, F W FTFT Normal Force, F N

Example: A boy is pushing a box across the floor at a steadily increasing speed. Draw a free-body diagram for the box. Try it on your own, then advance to the next slide to see the solution.

1.Picture 2. Coordinate axis 3. Dot 4. Force vectors 5. Net Force Example: A boy is pushing a box across the floor at a steadily increasing speed. Draw a free-body diagram for the box. Normal Force, F N +x +y FWFW FNFN F net Final fbd Applied force, F A Weight, F W FAFA