A college student rests a backpack upon his shoulder. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:ħ.

A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk at constant velocity. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:Ħ. A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk with a rightward acceleration. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:ĥ. A flying squirrel is gliding (no wing flaps) from a tree to the ground at constant velocity. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:Ĥ. An egg is free-falling from a nest in a tree. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:ģ. Diagram the forces acting on the combination of gymnast and bar. The bar is supported by two ropes that attach to the ceiling. A gymnast holding onto a bar, is suspended motionless in mid-air. A free-body diagram for this situation looks like this:Ģ. Continue to review the the list of forces and their description and this page in order to gain a comfort with constructing free-body diagrams.ġ. If you have difficulty drawing free-body diagrams, then you ought to be concerned. See answer.Īnswers to the above exercise are shown here. Neglect air resistance. Diagram the forces acting upon the car. A car is coasting to the right and slowing down.Neglect air resistance. Diagram the forces acting upon the football as it rises upward towards its peak. A football is moving upwards towards its peak after having been booted by the punter.Neglect air resistance. Diagram the forces acting upon the sled. A force is applied to the right to drag a sled across loosely packed snow with a rightward acceleration.

Diagram the forces acting upon the skydiver.

A skydiver is descending with a constant velocity.

Diagram the vertical forces acting on the backpack. The pack is suspended motionless by one strap from one shoulder.

A college student rests a backpack upon his shoulder.

A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk at constant velocity.

A rightward force is applied to a book in order to move it across a desk with a rightward acceleration.

Diagram the forces acting on the squirrel.

A flying squirrel is gliding (no wing flaps) from a tree to the ground at constant velocity.

Diagram the forces acting on the egg as it is falling.

An egg is free-falling from a nest in a tree.

A gymnast holding onto a bar, is suspended motionless in mid-air.

Answers are shown and explained at the bottom of this page. If necessary, refer to the list of forces and their description in order to understand the various force types and their appropriate symbols.Īpply the method described in the paragraph above to construct free-body diagrams for the various situations described below. Finally, draw a box and add arrows for each existing force in the appropriate direction label each force arrow according to its type. Then determine the direction in which each force is acting. If given a description of a physical situation, begin by using your understanding of the force types to identify which forces are present. Thus, to construct free-body diagrams, it is extremely important to know the various types of forces. The only rule for drawing free-body diagrams is to depict all the forces that exist for that object in the given situation. There is no hard and fast rule about the number of forces that must be drawn in a free-body diagram. There will be cases in which the number of forces depicted by a free-body diagram will be one, two, or three. Objects do not necessarily always have four forces acting upon them. T he free-body diagram above depicts four forces acting upon the object. An example of a free-body diagram is shown at the right It is generally customary in a free-body diagram to represent the object by a box and to draw the force arrow from the center of the box outward in the direction that the force is acting. Each force arrow in the diagram is labeled to indicate the exact type of force.

The direction of the arrow shows the direction that the force is acting. The size of the arrow in a free-body diagram reflects the magnitude of the force. These diagrams will be used throughout our study of physics. A free-body diagram is a special example of the vector diagrams that were discussed in an earlier unit. Free-body diagrams are diagrams used to show the relative magnitude and direction of all forces acting upon an object in a given situation.

Drawing free body diagrams worksheet