Contact and Non-Contact Forces

1. What are Contact and non-contact forces? Explain with Examples.

A contact force is defined as the force acting between two objects due to the physical interaction or contact between them. For example, a footballer kicks the ball is a contact force since physical contact is between the foot and the ball.

Non-contact forces are the forces that acts on the object, without any physical interaction with them, For example, when a ball is thrown upward came back to the thrower due to gravity due to its weight. 

2. Write 4 differences between contact and non-contact forces.

The following are the difference between contact and non-contact forces:

Contact Forces	Non-Contact Forces
As its name suggests, these forces came into play when there is physical contact or interaction between the two objects.	However, these forces came into play when there is no physical contact or interaction between the two objects.
Vector fields are used to determine the contact forces.	While non-contact forces cannot be represented using vectors
Contact Forces can be or cannot be natural forces.	Non-Contact Forces are natural forces.
Some important types of Contact Forces are Frictional Force, Spring Force, Muscular Force, Applied Forces, Normal Forces, etc.	Types of non-contact forces are Gravitational Force, Electrostatic Force, Magnetic Force, and Nuclear force.

3. Define Normal Force.

Normal force is a contact force. If two surfaces are not in contact, they can’t exert a normal force on each other. 

4. How does Inertia Prevent Motion from Changing?

We known that every object has a special characteristics called inertia. Therefore, if you roll a ball in a vacuum (a place free of gravity and external force), it keeps rolling. If the medium is changed to air, the ball will now fall to the earth due to an external force, specifically air resistance and gravity.

5. Falling raindrops an example of Contact or Non-Contact Force?

Falling raindrops towards the earth is due to gravitational force, which is a Non-Contact Force.

Contact and Non-Contact Forces are the two main types of forces. Contact Force is a force that acts between objects in contact with each other. For example, Contact force can be experienced when an object is sliding on a surface, due to frictional force. However, Non-Contact Force does not require any physical contact interaction. For example, when an apple falls down from a tree, because of gravitational force or pull, Some important examples of Contact Forces are Frictional Force, Air Drag (or resistance), Surface Tension, Buoyant Force, Applied Force, Normal Force, Muscular Force and so on. Similarly, some examples of Non-Contact Forces are Gravitational Force, Electrostatic Force, Magnetic Force, Nuclear force, etc. 

Let’s understand the concepts of Contact and Non-Contact Forces, their types and examples, the Difference between Contact and non-contact forces, and the FAQs on them in this article!