Newton’s Laws of Motion

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Who was Isaac Newton?

Sir Isaac Newton is a well-known astronomer, mathematician, and physicist. He is known for his discoveries and theories of many things, including gravity, motion, etc. One of his major theories is that a force he called gravity is pulling us to the Earth. Another major idea of his is his three laws of motion. These ideas were on motion, force, mass, and acceleration

Newton’s Laws of Motion

Newton’s First Law

Newton’s first law states that an object continues in its state of rest or motion unless and external force is applied to it. This basically means that an object begins moving only because of an outside force, and that an object stops moving only because of an outside force. For example, if a soccer ball is laying on a soccer field, it will not move until another force acts against it. This force could be you kicking the soccer ball. After you kicked the soccer ball, it will keep moving until another force stops it. In many cases, this force is friction. The friction of the grass or concrete stops the ball from moving eventually. Without a force, an object can’t start or stop moving.

Newton’s Second Law

Newton’s second law is about the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. Acceleration is produced when a force is applied to an object. The greater the mass of the object, the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate it. This can basically be said as force = mass * acceleration. The force you need to apply on an object to make it accelerate at a certain rate depends on the mass of the object.

We can understand this concept more easily with small balls. If two ball have the same amount of mass, and you apply the same amount of force to each ball, their acceleration rate will be the same. If one ball has more mass than the other, and you apply the same amount of force to each ball, the ball with less mass will have a higher acceleration rate. If one ball has more mass than the other, and you want both balls to have the same acceleration rate when you apply the forces, you will need to apply more force to the ball with more mass.

Newton’s Third Law

Newton’s third and final law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. When you apply a force to an object, the reaction is the same amount of force in the opposite direction. For example, if you bounce a basketball on the ground, one force is the ball hitting the ground. The equal and opposite force pushes the basketball back up. This is why balls bounce when hitting the ground. Another example could be when you are ice skating, and you pull someone towards you. You will feel yourself also being pulled forward toward the other person. This is the equal and opposite reaction.