Question

(a) What is meant by a contact force? Explain with the help of an example.

(b) What is meant by a no-contact force? Explain with the help of an example.

Answer 1

(a) A contact force is exactly what it sounds like: a force applied to a body by another body that is in direct contact with it. For example, when you lift a box off the floor, you are applying a contact force to the box. Or imagine a train. The locomotive pulls the car directly behind it — a contact force — which in turn pulls the car behind it — another contact force — and so on to the end of the train.

(b) A non-contact force which acts on an object without coming physically in contact with it. The most familiar example of a non-contact force is gravity, which confers weight.