Force
Forces and Motion
Talking about stationary objects
Teaching Guidance
for 11-14
No resultant force
When talking about stationary objects it is a good idea to refer to there being
Teacher: … no resultant force…
or even
Teacher: … there are several forces acting on the object but they added up to nothing … we'll say that the resultant is zero.
We think it's best to avoid saying:
Teacher: The forces have cancelled out.
As forces are still actually there, present in the model. And they have to be, as their presence is as a result of the interactions of the object with its environment in the physical world.
