Force and Pressure: Learn It In Simple Ways

Chapter 11, force and pressure, is one of the crucial chapters of class 8 science. You can find its explanation in NCERT solutions for class 8 science. In addition, this chapter talks about many basic concepts of pressure and force.

But is there any way to understand it more simply?

Definitely, yes!

This post will tell us some simple and easy daily life examples of pressure and force. These examples will make it easy for you to understand the basic concepts of force and pressure. 

Let us start by understanding the force.

What is force?

Have you ever played cricket? It uses a bat and a ball. What does it actually require? Someone has to throw a ball, and a person holding a bat will swing the ball. But what entity allows the ball to flow away, like a six, or just touches the boundary? It is the force of the baton on the ball that allows it to move. This is what the force is!

There are two basic types of force push and pull. There are many daily movements that involve these forces. First, let us understand it by some uses, for example, moving a pen on the table, a player kicking a football, opening or closing a door, etc. Each of these actions will involve pushing and pulling the object.

Let us learn the force by one more example. Suppose you are standing behind a car. Currently, that car is not moving. Then, you slowly try to push the car. As a result, a car may start to move. Or we can say the vehicle used the force of pushing by a man to shift the position.

What does the force exactly do?

For instance, you are standing in the play garden area, and a ball reached in front of you. Then, you kicked that ball, and it returned to the children playing with it.

What did you understand from this example?

The ball moved from its original state to another when kicked. Or you can say a force applied moved the ball. This is what a force does. It can change the state of the motion. 

Let’s understand this example further.

Now take another case. Suppose the ball kicked by children is moving at a pace, and you stop it with your leg. What will happen? The ball will stop. This again means the force applied by the leg changed the state of the motion of a ball.

But the above examples only stated how the force changes the position. So, is it only what the force does? Well, it can make many changes to the objects.

Yet again another example of you playing with clay. You wish to make some shapes like fruits, balls, etc. When you try to press the clay with your hands, is it in the same form as earlier? No, but the structure of the clay changes after applying the force of your hands. Therefore, you can say that a force applied may change the form of an object.

Moreover, a force may change the path of motion of the object. For example, suppose, instead of stooping the ball hit by the bat, a runner did swing it with his hand. As a result, the path of motion of the ball will be changed. 

Therefore, a force can transform the form of the activity or make it move. In addition, it can change the shape of an object or even can change the direction of movement. Furthermore, it may alter the pace of a moving object. 

Now, let us move on to the concept of pressure.

What is pressure?

Let us understand it by some examples. Have you tried watering the plants with a pipe? When you water plants by holding the waterpipe, observe how water comes out. Now cover the pipe opening with your finger.

What will be the results?

When you use a pipe, you usually feel no pressure, whereas when you cover the part of the pipe, you can feel the water pressure.

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Let us talk about one more example. You carry a schoolbag to your school. There are a lot of books and notebooks. What if you have the bag with one belt on one shoulder instead of using another belt? The pressure is equally distributed on the two shoulders when carrying the bag with both straps. However, when only one belt with one shoulder is used, pressure is created on that shoulder.

Both these examples denote the pressure. Let us define it regarding the above instances. Pressure is the force that acts on the unit area. Moreover, it has the following formula.

Pressure = force/area on which it appears

Looking forward

This chapter is one of the coring topics of class 8 science. It includes the definition and basic concepts of force and pressure. Further, it talks about types of forces, pressure formed by liquids and gases, atmospheric pressure, and friction. Finally, you can refer to science solutions and question papers to understand what kind of questions you will have in the examination.

Moreover, understand each and every term thoroughly, as it forms the foundation of a further bigger and more complex concept in science education. So, take notes, observe daily movements, and keenly observe the science around when you play. Keep formulae in mind. And always remember, when you excel in the basics, you excel in the complex concepts of the topic!

Let’s sum it up!

 As you already know about the importance of this chapter, it is vital to focus on the basics. Also, we hope you understood the basics of pressure and force from the above examples.  Furthermore, understand the connection between pressure and force and learn the formula mentioned above denoting the relation between them. It will help you solve the problems based on this formula in further science studies. Moreover, you can use solutions such as NCERT science solution or class 8 maths notes for a more comprehensive study of class 8.