🎯 PUSH & PULL: ALL ABOUT FORCES
PAGE 1 OF 5 · WHAT IS A FORCE?
BUMPS, TUGS, SQUEEZES
A FORCE IS A PUSH OR A PULL
In everyday words, a force is something that tries to move you (or a thing) or change how it is already moving. You cannot put a force in a jar, but you see the effects: a cart rolls, a rope goes tight, a book sits still on a table with hidden pushes balancing.
Kid read aloud: “A shove is a push. A tug on a string is a pull. Grown ups draw them as arrows so we can talk without arguing about feelings.”
Kid read aloud: “A shove is a push. A tug on a string is a pull. Grown ups draw them as arrows so we can talk without arguing about feelings.”
ONE TIGHT LINE (BIG KIDS)
When all the forces on an object (all directions added as vectors) are summed into a net force, an easy form for straight-line motion in school is Fnet = m a (with m in kilograms, a in m/s², F in newtons). That is a model for when mass stays about the same and relativity is not the star of the day.
SHOVE!
EFFECTS
🚀 A big push from hot gas can speed up a rocket. Same idea as kicking a ball, only louder.
🛑 A brake push against a wheel is how we slow a bike on purpose.
🛑 A brake push against a wheel is how we slow a bike on purpose.
DIRECTION MATTERS
🧲 A spring scale and a tug-of-war rope both care about which way the shove is aimed and how big it is, not the colour of the rope.