Definition of Force: What is Force?

 

FORCE:

                            A force is a kind of a push or a pull on an object. When we push a stilled car, hit the nail with a hammer, or drag a chair, we are exerting a force in each case.

            We can think of different ways in which we can move this textbook. We can push or pull it, or we can tie a string around it and pull on the string. We often call this contact with another object. As we are reading this blog right now, our hands are exerting a contact force on it. There are other ways in which we can change the motion of the textbook. We can drop it, it would accelerate as it falls to the ground. This time the gravitational force of Earth (which is not a contact force) is acting on the book which is causing this acceleration. We call such forces non-contact forces, field forces, or action-at-a-distance forces.