IP Physics Notes (Upper Secondary, Year 3-4): 3) Forces
In one line
Distinguish mass from weight, handle friction and upthrust, draw clean free-body diagrams, and apply Newton's laws with vector resolution.
Last updated 30 Nov 2025
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- Start Here
- Force Fundamentals
- Mass, Weight & Gravitational Fields
- Density & Upthrust
Q: What does IP Physics Notes (Upper Secondary, Year 3-4): 3) Forces cover?
A: Distinguish mass from weight, handle friction and upthrust, draw clean free-body diagrams, and apply Newton's laws with vector resolution.
Quick recap -- Treat force as a vector, link weight to gravitational field strength, capture all pushes/pulls in a free-body diagram, and let Newton's laws plus vector resolution tell you whether motion changes.
Start Here
| Read time | What to take away |
| 1 second | Forces change motion only when the resultant force is not zero. |
| 10 seconds | Draw the free-body diagram first. Separate mass from weight, include friction, tension, normal force, and upthrust, then resolve vectors before applying Newton's laws. |
| 100 seconds | Use the force families and Newton's law sections to practise moving from a word problem to a labelled diagram, resultant force, and acceleration statement. |
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These notes align with SEAB GCE O-Level Physics (6091) content used in IP programmes (exams from 2026).
Status: SEAB O-Level Physics 6091 syllabus (exams from 2026) checked 2025-11-30 - scope unchanged; remains the reference for these notes.
Force Fundamentals
- A force is a push or pull arising from interaction between bodies. It can change an object's speed, direction, or shape.
- Forces are vectors: they need both magnitude and direction. The SI unit is the newton
