Thank you my wonderful partner Elizabeth for writing this Essay!
The three laws of motion explain how an
object will either stay in motion or what makes it move, (law of inertia),
Force= mass X acceleration, and action and reaction.
This essay will basically take the dry basics of the rules and elaborate
and give examples of how they work so you will have a better understanding of
the laws. Including examples of
labs that demonstrate, lets introduce the first law.
Newton’s 1st law of motion
states that an object at rest will stay at rest until acted on by larger force.
Objects in motion will stay in motion until stopped by a larger force. Basically
this is stating that an object will not move if it isn’t affected by an
unbalanced force. It also says that if it starts to move, it will continue
moving in that direction until a larger force stops this. Say you put a
basketball in a swivel chair and start to roll the chair. If you stopped the
chair, the ball would continue in the same direction until you, another object,
or friction stops it. When it is at a constant speed it is a balanced force
just like it was before it started moving. If you put a restraint on the ball,
like tying it to the chair, it would stop it from continuing to go. This is the
reason we have seat belts in cars, so we don’t fly through the windshield if you
stop quickly, because without that restraint, you’d continue to go right out of
the car. And depending on how much you weigh, and how quickly the car stopped,
you would probably go pretty far. This is an example of Newton’s 2nd
law of motion.
Newton’s 2nd law states that the
smaller the object is, the more acceleration is there will be. The larger the
object, the less acceleration there will be. This is because Force= mass X
acceleration. Basically the more
mass you have and the more force you have, the more you will accelerate. So say
you have three different sized balls. They all had different masses and you
role all three of them, using the same force. They will all have different
accelerations, the smallest one having the greatest acceleration. So if you
have the different size balls but have the same acceleration, most likely,
there was a different force. If the balls all had the same mass, and you pushed
them at different forces, the acceleration would differ. Clear as mud? Well
what would happen if one of them ran into each other and they sprang off in
different directions, well if it follows the first law, this wouldn’t happen
but this would be an example of Newton’s third
law.
Newton’s 3rd law of motion
states that all Forces act in pairs. For one force to act on an object, second
object will have force in the opposite direction.
This one is pretty simply put. Say you have a suction cup and a spring
with an object attached to them. Stick the object to a window, having the spring
be squeezed together. Eventually, depending on how powerful your suction cup is,
the object will spring off in the opposite direction because the force built up
and acting in opposite to the suction cup that kept it attached to the
window. And depending on how
powerful your spring is, determines how far your object would go. It would go
forever like it says in the first law except a large force called gravity would
pull it downward so it wouldn’t continue to go and fly outwards. This is a great
example of the last law.
Newton’s
three laws, when put into simple terms, aren’t confusing concepts. Just remember
that an object is balanced until acted on by a larger force and then is still
balanced when it goes at a constant speed until acted on again by a larger force
that stops it. The second law is Force= mass X acceleration. And the third is
all forces act in pairs, pretty simple right? Just remember this and the
examples and the rest should make more sense.
The three laws of motion explain how an
object will either stay in motion or what makes it move, (law of inertia),
Force= mass X acceleration, and action and reaction.
This essay will basically take the dry basics of the rules and elaborate
and give examples of how they work so you will have a better understanding of
the laws. Including examples of
labs that demonstrate, lets introduce the first law.
Newton’s 1st law of motion
states that an object at rest will stay at rest until acted on by larger force.
Objects in motion will stay in motion until stopped by a larger force. Basically
this is stating that an object will not move if it isn’t affected by an
unbalanced force. It also says that if it starts to move, it will continue
moving in that direction until a larger force stops this. Say you put a
basketball in a swivel chair and start to roll the chair. If you stopped the
chair, the ball would continue in the same direction until you, another object,
or friction stops it. When it is at a constant speed it is a balanced force
just like it was before it started moving. If you put a restraint on the ball,
like tying it to the chair, it would stop it from continuing to go. This is the
reason we have seat belts in cars, so we don’t fly through the windshield if you
stop quickly, because without that restraint, you’d continue to go right out of
the car. And depending on how much you weigh, and how quickly the car stopped,
you would probably go pretty far. This is an example of Newton’s 2nd
law of motion.
Newton’s 2nd law states that the
smaller the object is, the more acceleration is there will be. The larger the
object, the less acceleration there will be. This is because Force= mass X
acceleration. Basically the more
mass you have and the more force you have, the more you will accelerate. So say
you have three different sized balls. They all had different masses and you
role all three of them, using the same force. They will all have different
accelerations, the smallest one having the greatest acceleration. So if you
have the different size balls but have the same acceleration, most likely,
there was a different force. If the balls all had the same mass, and you pushed
them at different forces, the acceleration would differ. Clear as mud? Well
what would happen if one of them ran into each other and they sprang off in
different directions, well if it follows the first law, this wouldn’t happen
but this would be an example of Newton’s third
law.
Newton’s 3rd law of motion
states that all Forces act in pairs. For one force to act on an object, second
object will have force in the opposite direction.
This one is pretty simply put. Say you have a suction cup and a spring
with an object attached to them. Stick the object to a window, having the spring
be squeezed together. Eventually, depending on how powerful your suction cup is,
the object will spring off in the opposite direction because the force built up
and acting in opposite to the suction cup that kept it attached to the
window. And depending on how
powerful your spring is, determines how far your object would go. It would go
forever like it says in the first law except a large force called gravity would
pull it downward so it wouldn’t continue to go and fly outwards. This is a great
example of the last law.
Newton’s
three laws, when put into simple terms, aren’t confusing concepts. Just remember
that an object is balanced until acted on by a larger force and then is still
balanced when it goes at a constant speed until acted on again by a larger force
that stops it. The second law is Force= mass X acceleration. And the third is
all forces act in pairs, pretty simple right? Just remember this and the
examples and the rest should make more sense.