Free Body Diagrams Flashcards
All 5 cards in this deck
What is a free body diagram?
A diagram showing all the forces acting on a single isolated object, drawn as labelled arrows.
What are the steps to draw a free body diagram?
e.g. a book resting on a table- Draw the object as a simple shape or dot, on its own.
- Draw an arrow for each force acting on it, pointing the right way with length to scale (weight down, normal contact force up).
- Label each arrow with the force name and size.
True or false? A free body diagram shows the forces that the object exerts on other objects.
False. It shows only the forces acting on the chosen object.
Which four forces are shown on a free body diagram of a car driving along a level road?
Weight (down), normal contact force (up), driving force (forwards) and friction/air resistance (backwards).
On a free body diagram, from which point are the force arrows usually drawn?
From the object's centre of mass.