Balanced and Unbalanced Forces

When you look around, every object has multiple forces acting on it at the same time. A force is simply a push or pull exerted on an object. Each force has both a magnitude (how strong it is, measured in Newtons) and a direction (like north, east, west, up, down, left, or right).

Some common forces include gravity, which keeps us stable and pulls us toward Earth, and normal force, which pushes back when objects contact each other. For example, when you sit on a chair, you don't fall through because the chair pushes up against you with normal force that balances gravity's pull down.

When we combine all forces acting on an object, we get what's called the net force. If the combined forces equal zero, we have balanced forces and the object won't change its motion. If the forces don't equal zero, we have unbalanced forces and the object will accelerate in the direction of the stronger force.

Try this! Next time you're pushing something heavy like a desk, notice how it doesn't move until you push hard enough. That's because you need to create an unbalanced force that exceeds the friction between the desk and floor.