Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion by Michael

Isaac Newton is responsible for the 3 Laws of Motion. He was considered part of the scientific revolution of the 17th century. Everyone knows the story of the apple hitting him on the head and making come to a realization. That realization was gravity. He noticed that everything that was in the air would eventually come down. This helped him start his research on motion and force.

THE LAWS

1.    First Law:

a.    An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by another force and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by another force.

2.    Second Law:

a.    Acceleration occurs when a force is applied to a mass, the greater the mass, the more force that is needed to push it.

3.    Third Law:

a.    For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction,

Now all of this sounds like a lot to take in for someone that is not trained on the laws of motion, but they are as simple as they sound. Here are some examples.

1)    A ball on a flat surface will stay put because there is no other force pushing on it, but a ball on a decline will roll downhill because of the force of gravity.

2)    If you want to move a box, you push the box. The speed in which it moves is the acceleration. If the box weighs the same  and two people push it with different amounts of force, the person using more force would push it faster.

3)    Take a rocket, the force being pushed out by the engines is the action. The reaction is the force the ground is asserting on the rocket, causing it to fly upwards.