Newton’s First Law.

Two of the most important quantities in physics are force and acceleration. Acceleration is the rate at
which the velocity changes with time. Force is, quite simply, a push or a pull.

Two quantities characterize a force:

1. the strength, or magnitude of the force

2. the direction in which the force acts

Objects don't start or stop moving on their own. This observation is the essence of Newton's first law of
motion.

A body at rest tends to stay at rest, a body in motion tends to keep moving along at a constant speed
and in a straight-line path unless interfered with by some external forces.

Newton's first law is sometimes referred to as the law of inertia. Loosely speaking, inertia means
laziness. Objects may be thought of as lazy because they don't change their motion unless forced to do
so. The tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion is referred to as its inertia.

Every object resists change to its state of motion/velocity. To change it, the force must act on it. We call
this resistance INERTIA.

Inertia is resistance an object has to a change of velocity.

• sort of laziness (inerzia – laziness in Italian)

inertia increases with mass

The net force – resultant force. It is the net force that changes the object’s state of motion.

Fnet or ΣF the object accelerates as if only one force – net force is applied

If the Net Force acting on the object is zero

FNET = 0 a = 0
The object is either stationary (v = 0) or traveling with a constant velocity (v = constant)

Newton’s Second Law.

Velocity must change if a net force acts on an object.

According to the second law, a net force on an object causes it to accelerate. If an object accelerates,
its velocity must change.
 1. Acceleration (m/s2)
2. Net force (N)
3. Mass (kg)

The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely
proportional to its mass.
    

a
F
m
F
 net
m
Fnet   F  ma
kg m
1 N 1 2
s SI unit of force is a Newton (N).
The net force is zero on an object with constant velocity.

If velocity stays constant, then the acceleration is zero—so the net force must also be zero.

1. Acceleration and force are vectors.

2. The acceleration is always in the direction of the net force.

ACTION AND REACTION: NEWTON’S THIRD LAW.

For every action force, there must be an equal and opposite reaction force. Forces occur in pairs.

In every interaction, the forces always occur only in pairs, BUT these forces act on two different bodies.

Common definition:

- to every action there is an equal and opposite reaction

 GRAVITATION.
THE APPLE AND THE MOON.
The story goes that Isaac Newton deduced the law of gravitation upon seeing an apple fall from a
tree.

The apple accelerates as it falls. Newton realized that the force accelerating the apple must be
coming from the Earth itself.

The Moon orbits Earth in a circle. Circular motion also requires a force—a centripetal force.

Newton realized that the force accelerating the apple is the same force keeping the Moon in orbit.

THE LAW OF UNIVERSAL GRAVITATION.

Newton said that all objects are attracted to all other objects with a force he called gravity.

There is a force of attraction between any two objects in the universe.

The force of gravity is always attractive.

The force is directed along a line that connects the centers of the two objects.

Formula of The Law Of Universal Gravitation.

If you double both of the masses, the force is four times as strong.

If you double the distance between the masses, the force is reduced to one-
fourth of its original value.

WHAT IS G?
The gravitational constant G is the same everywhere in the universe.

Scientists don’t know why it has this value.

G is a very small number.