Force vs. Intensity — What's the Difference?
By Maham Liaqat & Fiza Rafique — Updated on April 23, 2024
Force refers to an interaction that changes the motion of an object, quantifiable as mass times acceleration; intensity typically measures the strength or concentration of an effect or phenomenon, such as light or sound.
Difference Between Force and Intensity
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
Force is a physical concept defined as any interaction that, when unopposed, changes the motion of an object. It is expressed in newtons and calculated as mass multiplied by acceleration. Whereas, intensity describes the strength or concentration of a particular effect or phenomenon, such as light, sound, or energy, often measured in watts per square meter.
In physics, force can manifest as gravity, friction, or electromagnetic force, among others, directly affecting the motion and position of objects. On the other hand, intensity does not directly cause motion but indicates the power per unit area delivered by a wave or electromagnetic field.
For example, the force of gravity on an object depends on its mass and the gravitational constant, while the intensity of sunlight refers to the energy striking an area over a specific time period. Whereas the force directly impacts the object's acceleration, intensity relates more to the energy transfer rate.
Force calculations are crucial in fields like engineering and mechanics to ensure structures can withstand applied loads. Conversely, intensity calculations are critical in fields like acoustics and optics to determine the energy transfer efficiency and potential effects on materials and biological entities.
In everyday terms, when we push an object, we exert force, influencing its motion or position. Meanwhile, when we adjust the brightness of a light or the volume of a sound, we are altering the intensity, affecting how bright or loud it appears.
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Comparison Chart
Definition
Interaction changing an object’s motion
Strength or concentration of an effect
Units
Newtons (N)
Watts per square meter (W/m²)
Key Physics Concept
Influences motion through acceleration
Measures energy or power concentration
Examples
Gravity, friction, magnetic
Light brightness, sound loudness
Application Fields
Mechanics, engineering
Optics, acoustics, radiology
Compare with Definitions
Force
Forces are vectors, meaning they have both magnitude and direction.
The force of a magnet pulling on iron has a specific direction.
Intensity
Quantifies energy flow per unit area.
Laser beams have very high light intensities focused on small areas.
Force
Measured in Newtons, it quantifies the magnitude of interaction.
A force of 10 Newtons accelerates a 1 kg object to 10 m/s².
Intensity
Measures the power distributed over an area.
The intensity of sunlight decreases on cloudy days.
Force
In mechanical systems, force is essential for motion control.
Engines generate force to propel vehicles forward.
Intensity
Intensity relates to the amplitude of waves, like sound or light.
Loud sounds have high acoustic intensity.
Force
A push or pull on an object that causes it to change velocity.
Pushing a car uphill involves applying force against gravity.
Intensity
In radiation, intensity affects exposure levels.
Higher radiation intensity can increase health risks.
Force
Force can result from interactions like gravity or electromagnetic forces.
Earth exerts a gravitational force on all objects, pulling them downwards.
Intensity
Used to describe the severity or strength of phenomena.
Earthquake intensity can be measured to assess damage potential.
Force
The capacity to do work or cause physical change; energy, strength, or active power
The force of an explosion.
Intensity
Exceptionally great concentration, power, or force.
Force
In physics, a force is any influence that, when unopposed, will change the motion of an object. A force can cause an object with mass to change its velocity (which includes to begin moving from a state of rest), i.e., to accelerate.
Intensity
(Physics) The amount or degree of strength of electricity, light, heat, or sound per unit area or volume.
Force
Strength or energy as an attribute of physical action or movement
He was thrown backwards by the force of the explosion
Intensity
The strength of a color, especially the degree to which it lacks its complementary color.
Force
Coercion or compulsion, especially with the use or threat of violence
They ruled by law and not by force
Intensity
See saturation.
Force
Mental or moral strength or power
The force of popular opinion
Intensity
The quality of being intense.
Force
An organized body of military personnel or police
A British peacekeeping force
Intensity
The degree of strength.
Force
A waterfall.
Intensity
(physics) Time-averaged energy flux (the ratio of average power to the area through which the power "flows"); irradiance.
Force
Make a way through or into by physical strength; break open by force
The back door of the bank was forced
Intensity
(optics) Can mean any of radiant intensity, luminous intensity or irradiance.
Force
Make (someone) do something against their will
The universities were forced to cut staff
She was forced into early retirement
Intensity
(astronomy) radiance.
Force
Power made operative against resistance; exertion
Use force in driving a nail.
Intensity
(geology) The severity of an earthquake in terms of its effects on the earth's surface, and buildings. The value depends on the distance from the epicentre, and is not to be confused with the magnitude.
Force
The use of physical power or violence to compel or restrain
A confession obtained by force.
Intensity
The state or quality of being intense; intenseness; extreme degree; as, intensity of heat, cold, mental application, passion, etc.
If you would deepen the intensity of light, you must be content to bring into deeper blackness and more distinct and definite outline the shade that accompanies it.
Force
Intellectual power or vigor, especially as conveyed in writing or speech.
Intensity
The amount or degree of energy with which a force operates or a cause acts; effectiveness, as estimated by results produced.
Force
Moral strength.
Intensity
The magnitude of a distributed force, as pressure, stress, weight, etc., per unit of surface, or of volume, as the case may be; as, the measure of the intensity of a total stress of forty pounds which is distributed uniformly over a surface of four square inches area is ten pounds per square inch.
Force
A capacity for affecting the mind or behavior; efficacy
The force of logical argumentation.
Intensity
The degree or depth of color or shade in a picture.
Force
One that possesses such capacity
The forces of evil.
Intensity
The amount of energy transmitted (as by acoustic or electromagnetic radiation);
He adjusted the intensity of the sound
They measured the station's signal strength
Force
A body of persons or other resources organized or available for a certain purpose
A large labor force.
Intensity
High level or degree; the property of being intense
Force
A person or group capable of influential action
A retired senator who is still a force in national politics.
Intensity
The magnitude of sound (usually in a specified direction);
The kids played their music at full volume
Force
Military strength.
Intensity
Chromatic purity: freedom from dilution with white and hence vividness of hue
Force
A unit of a nation's military personnel, especially one deployed into combat
Our armed forces have at last engaged the enemy.
Force
A vector quantity indicating the strength and direction of the capacity to accelerate a body. Newton's second law of motion states that a free body accelerates in the direction of the net force and that its acceleration is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to its mass.
Force
See fundamental force.
Force
(Baseball) A force play.
Force
To compel through pressure or necessity
I forced myself to practice daily. He was forced to take a second job.
Force
To gain by the use of force or coercion
Force a confession.
Force
To move or effect against resistance or inertia
Forced my foot into the shoe.
Force
To inflict or impose relentlessly
He forced his ideas upon the group.
Force
To put undue strain on
She forced her voice despite being hoarse.
Force
To increase or accelerate (a pace, for example) to the maximum.
Force
To produce with effort and against one's will
Force a laugh in spite of pain.
Force
To use (language) with obvious lack of ease and naturalness.
Force
To move, open, or clear by force
Forced our way through the crowd.
Force
To break down or open by force
Force a lock.
Force
To rape.
Force
To induce change in (a complex system) by changing one of its parameters
Greenhouse gases that force the earth's climate.
Force
(Botany) To cause to grow or mature by artificially accelerating normal processes.
Force
To put (a runner) out on a force play.
Force
To allow (a run) to be scored by walking a batter when the bases are loaded.
Force
(Games) To cause an opponent to play (a particular card).
Force
Strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigour; might; capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect.
The force of an appeal, an argument, or a contract
Force
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion.
Force
(countable) Anything that is able to make a substantial change in a person or thing.
Force
A physical quantity that denotes ability to push, pull, twist or accelerate a body and which has a direction and is measured in a unit dimensioned in mass × distance/time² (ML/T²): SI: newton (N); CGS: dyne (dyn)
Force
Something or anything that has the power to produce a physical effect upon something else, such as causing it to move or change shape.
Force
(countable) A group that aims to attack, control, or constrain.
Reinforcemented increased the American force in the area to 9,000
Police force
Force
(uncountable) The ability to attack, control, or constrain.
Show of force
Force
(countable) A magic trick in which the outcome is known to the magician beforehand, especially one involving the apparent free choice of a card by another person.
Force
(legal) Legal validity.
The law will come into force in January.
Force
(legal) Either unlawful violence, as in a "forced entry", or lawful compulsion.
Force
Ability of an utterance or its element (word, form, prosody, ...) to effect a given meaning.
Force
|often|capitalized}}Star Wars A metaphysical and ubiquitous power from the fictional Star Wars universe created by George Lucas. See usage note.
Force
Synonym of police force
Force
A waterfall or cascade.
Force
(transitive) To violate (a woman); to rape.
Force
To exert oneself, to do one's utmost.
Force
(transitive) To compel (someone or something) to do something.
Force
(transitive) To constrain by force; to overcome the limitations or resistance of.
Force
(transitive) To drive (something) by force, to propel (generally + prepositional phrase or adverb).
Force
(transitive) To cause to occur (despite inertia, resistance etc.); to produce through force.
The comedian's jokes weren't funny, but I forced a laugh now and then.
Force
(transitive) To forcibly open (a door, lock etc.).
To force a lock.
Force
To obtain or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress.
Force
To create an out by touching a base in advance of a runner who has no base to return to while in possession of a ball which has already touched the ground.
Jones forced the runner at second by stepping on the bag.
Force
(whist) To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit that he/she does not hold.
Force
(archaic) To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
Force
(archaic) To provide with forces; to reinforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
Force
(obsolete) To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
Force
To stuff; to lard; to farce.
Force
To stuff; to lard; to farce.
Wit larded with malice, and malice forced with wit.
Force
To constrain to do or to forbear, by the exertion of a power not resistible; to compel by physical, moral, or intellectual means; to coerce; as, masters force slaves to labor.
Force
To compel, as by strength of evidence; as, to force conviction on the mind.
Force
To do violence to; to overpower, or to compel by violence to one's will; especially, to ravish; to violate; to commit rape upon.
To force their monarch and insult the court.
I should have forced thee soon wish other arms.
To force a spotless virgin's chastity.
Force
To obtain, overcome, or win by strength; to take by violence or struggle; specifically, to capture by assault; to storm, as a fortress; as, to force the castle; to force a lock.
Force
To impel, drive, wrest, extort, get, etc., by main strength or violence; - with a following adverb, as along, away, from, into, through, out, etc.
It stuck so fast, so deeply buried layThat scarce the victor forced the steel away.
To force the tyrant from his seat by war.
Ethelbert ordered that none should be forced into religion.
Force
To put in force; to cause to be executed; to make binding; to enforce.
What can the church force more?
Force
To exert to the utmost; to urge; hence, to strain; to urge to excessive, unnatural, or untimely action; to produce by unnatural effort; as, to force a conceit or metaphor; to force a laugh; to force fruits.
High on a mounting wave my head I bore,Forcing my strength, and gathering to the shore.
Force
To compel (an adversary or partner) to trump a trick by leading a suit of which he has none.
Force
To provide with forces; to reënforce; to strengthen by soldiers; to man; to garrison.
Force
To allow the force of; to value; to care for.
For me, I force not argument a straw.
Force
To use violence; to make violent effort; to strive; to endeavor.
Forcing with gifts to win his wanton heart.
Force
To make a difficult matter of anything; to labor; to hesitate; hence, to force of, to make much account of; to regard.
Your oath once broke, you force not to forswear.
I force not of such fooleries.
Force
To be of force, importance, or weight; to matter.
It is not sufficient to have attained the name and dignity of a shepherd, not forcing how.
Force
A waterfall; a cascade.
To see the falls for force of the river Kent.
Force
Capacity of exercising an influence or producing an effect; strength or energy of body or mind; active power; vigor; might; often, an unusual degree of strength or energy; especially, power to persuade, or convince, or impose obligation; pertinency; validity; special signification; as, the force of an appeal, an argument, a contract, or a term.
He was, in the full force of the words, a good man.
Force
Power exerted against will or consent; compulsory power; violence; coercion; as, by force of arms; to take by force.
Which now they hold by force, and not by right.
Force
Strength or power for war; hence, a body of land or naval combatants, with their appurtenances, ready for action; - an armament; troops; warlike array; - often in the plural; hence, a body of men prepared for action in other ways; as, the laboring force of a plantation; the armed forces.
Is Lucius general of the forces?
Force
Strength or power exercised without law, or contrary to law, upon persons or things; violence.
Force
Any action between two bodies which changes, or tends to change, their relative condition as to rest or motion; or, more generally, which changes, or tends to change, any physical relation between them, whether mechanical, thermal, chemical, electrical, magnetic, or of any other kind; as, the force of gravity; cohesive force; centrifugal force.
Thy tears are of no force to mollifyThis flinty man.
More huge in strength than wise in works he was.
Adam and first matron EveHad ended now their orisons, and foundStrength added from above, new hope to springOut of despair.
Force
A unit that is part of some military service;
He sent Caesar a force of six thousand men
Force
One possessing or exercising power or influence or authority;
The mysterious presence of an evil power
May the force be with you
The forces of evil
Force
(physics) the influence that produces a change in a physical quantity;
Force equals mass times acceleration
Force
Group of people willing to obey orders;
A public force is necessary to give security to the rights of citizens
Force
A powerful effect or influence;
The force of his eloquence easily persuaded them
Force
An act of aggression (as one against a person who resists);
He may accomplish by craft in the long run what he cannot do by force and violence in the short one
Force
Physical energy or intensity;
He hit with all the force he could muster
It was destroyed by the strength of the gale
A government has not the vitality and forcefulness of a living man
Force
A group of people having the power of effective action;
He joined forces with a band of adventurers
Force
(of a law) having legal validity;
The law is still in effect
Force
To cause to do through pressure or necessity, by physical, moral or intellectual means :
She forced him to take a job in the city
He squeezed her for information
Force
Urge or force (a person) to an action; constrain or motivate
Force
Move with force,
He pushed the table into a corner
Force
Impose or thrust urgently, importunately, or inexorably;
She forced her diet fads on him
Force
Squeeze like a wedge into a tight space;
I squeezed myself into the corner
Force
Force into or from an action or state, either physically or metaphorically;
She rammed her mind into focus
He drives me mad
Force
Do forcibly; exert force;
Don't force it!
Force
Cause to move along the ground by pulling;
Draw a wagon
Pull a sled
Force
Take by force;
Storm the fort
Common Curiosities
What is the difference between force and pressure
Force is an interaction that moves an object, while pressure is force distributed over an area.
How is force related to motion
Force causes an object to accelerate, directly influencing its motion.
What is a common unit of force
The common unit of force is the newton.
Can intensity vary with distance
Yes, intensity typically decreases as distance from the source increases, as in the case of light or sound.
Can intensity be felt directly like force
No, intensity measures the concentration of energy, which indirectly affects how we perceive phenomena, unlike the direct mechanical effect of force.
Is intensity relevant in sound
Yes, sound intensity determines how loud a sound is perceived.
What factors affect light intensity
Light intensity can be affected by the light source's power, distance from the source, and any intervening medium.
What units are used to measure intensity
Intensity is often measured in watts per square meter.
How do forces interact in nature
Forces interact through fundamental interactions like gravitational, electromagnetic, and nuclear forces.
Why is understanding force important in engineering
Understanding force is crucial for designing structures and systems that can withstand various loads and stresses.
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Maham Liaqat
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Fiza RafiqueFiza Rafique is a skilled content writer at AskDifference.com, where she meticulously refines and enhances written pieces. Drawing from her vast editorial expertise, Fiza ensures clarity, accuracy, and precision in every article. Passionate about language, she continually seeks to elevate the quality of content for readers worldwide.
