Practice Drawing Free-body
Diagrams
Renate Fiora
Drawing a Free-Body Diagram
1. Make a drawing of the system, identifying all
the forces acting on the object.
2. Draw a coordinate system.
– Your fbd axis should be the same as it was defined
in your picture. Generally, the x-axis should parallel
the direction of motion.
3. Represent the object as a dot at the origin of
the coordinate axes.
4. Draw vectors representing each of the
identified forces.
5. Draw and label the net force vector, Fnet.
Example:
A tow rope pulls a skier up a snow-covered hill at a constant speed.
Draw a free-body diagram for the skier.
Try it on your own, then advance to the next slide
to see the solution.
Example:
A tow rope pulls a skier up a snow-covered hill at a constant speed.
Draw a free-body diagram for the skier.
Tension, FT
1. PictureNormal Force, F
N
Weight, FW
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fnet
Final fbd
Coordinate axis
Dot
Force vectors
Net Force
FT
FW
Example:
A boy is pushing a box across the floor at a steadily increasing speed.
Draw a free-body diagram for the box.
Try it on your own, then advance to the next slide
to see the solution.
Example:
A boy is pushing a box across the floor at a steadily increasing speed.
Draw a free-body diagram for the box.
1. Picture
Applied force, F
A
Normal Force, FN
Weight, FW
2.
3.
4.
5.
Fnet
Coordinate axis
Dot
Force vectors
Net Force
Final fbd
+y
Fnet
FN
FA
FW
+x