Newton’s Laws of Motion

Overview:
Newton’s Laws of Motion are three physical laws that together laid the foundation
for classical mechanics. They describe the relationship between a body and the
forces acting upon it, and its motion in response to those forces.

First Law (Law of Inertia)

Statement: An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion
with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced
force.
Explanation: This law is often called the law of inertia. It means that there is a
natural tendency of objects to keep on doing what they’re doing. All objects resist
changes in their state of motion.

Second Law (Law of Acceleration)

Statement: The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force

acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass.
Formula: F=ma

where ( F ) is the net force applied, ( m ) is the mass of the object, and ( a ) is
the acceleration.
Explanation: This law indicates that the force needed to accelerate an object
depends on the mass of the object and the desired acceleration.

Third Law (Law of Action and Reaction)

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

Explanation: This means that for every force there is a reaction force that is
equal in size, but opposite in direction. That is, the forces of two bodies on each
other are always equal and are directed in opposite directions.

Applications

First Law: Used to explain the motion of objects traveling in space where there is
little friction.
Second Law: Allows us to calculate the force, mass, and acceleration of an object
if the other two quantities are known.
Third Law: Helps us understand how propulsion works (like in rockets).

Examples
First Law:
A soccer ball will not move until a player kicks it.
Second Law:
If you use the same force to push a truck and push a car, the car will have more
acceleration than the truck, because the car has less mass.
Third Law:
When you jump, your legs apply a force to the ground, and the ground applies an
equal and opposite reaction force that propels you into the air.