PHYSICS 1261

Newton’s Laws of Motion

Newton’s First Law of Motion
• 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.
Newton’s First Law of Motion
• The behavior of all objects can be described by saying that objects
tend to "keep on doing what they're doing" (
unless acted upon by an unbalanced force).
• If at rest, they will continue in this same state of rest. If in motion with
an eastward velocity of 5 m/s, they will continue in this same state of
motion (5 m/s, East).
• It is also called as the Law of Inertia.
• Inertia – It is a property of matter by which it continues in its existing
state – rest or uniform motion in a straight line, unless that state is
changed by an external force.
Does inertia exist in objects?
• All object have inertia.
• This is the natural tendency of objects to resist changes in their
motion. Objects that are not moving tend to stay that way. Objects in
motion tend to keep moving at the same speed and in the same
direction.
Examples:
1. You can impress your friends by pulling a tablecloth from under some
dishes. To be more successful, you use a smooth hemless cloth.
When you pull the cloth quickly in a downward direction, the dishes
will not be disturbed; the dishes will remain at rest.
2. Imagine you are standing still in a stationary train – then suddenly it
moves forward. Your body has inertia, and so a force is needed to
change its velocity. The train floor accelerates your feet but your body
falls backward. As you hold on to the handle, the force exerted by the
train through the handle gives your body forward velocity. On the
other hand, when the train suddenly stops, your body will continue
to be in motion and so it moves forward until something stops it.
Application
• There is now a law that requires passengers and drivers to use seat
belt.
• Seat belt prevent the passenger or driver from moving in the direction
of motion when the vehicle suddenly stop.
Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion
• It is also called the Law of Acceleration
• The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net external
force acting on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the
object.
Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion
• Physical Quantities involved:
System/Quantity Mass Acceleration Force

MKS Kg m/s2 1N = Kg . m/s2

CGS g Cm/s2 Dyne = g . cm/s2

• Formula: Fnet = m • a
Sample #1
• A 3.5 – kg papaya is pushed across a table. If the acceleration of the
papaya is 2.2 m/s2 to the left, what is the external force exerted on
the papaya?
Sample #2
• A 0.050-kg tennis ball approaches a racket at 25 m/s. if it is in contact
with the racket’s strings for 0.005 s, then rebounds at 25 m/s, what is
the average contact force between ball and racket?
Sample #3
• A constant net force of 200N is exerted to accelerate a cart from rest
to a velocity of 40 m/s in 10 s. what is the mass of the cart?
Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion
• It is also called as The law of Interaction.
• When an object exerts a force on another object, the second object
exerts on the first a force of the same magnitude but in the opposite
direction.
• Simply, for every force (action) there is an equal and opposite action
(reaction).
Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion
Example:
• A bird flies with the use of its wings. The wings of a bird push
air downwards. Since forces result from mutual interactions,
the air must also be pushing the bird upwards. The size of
the force on the air equals the size of the force on the bird;
the direction of the force on the air (downwards) is opposite
the direction of the force on the bird (upwards). For every
action, there is an equal (in size) and opposite (in direction)
reaction. Action-reaction force pairs make it possible for
birds to fly.
Example
• While driving down the road, a firefly strikes the windshield
of a bus and makes a quite obvious mess in front of the face
of the driver. This is a clear case of Newton's third law of
motion. The firefly hit the bus and the bus hits the firefly.
Which of the two forces is greater: the force on the firefly or
the force on the bus?
Applications of the Newton’s Laws of Motion
Newton’s 1st Law : Basis of designing safety devices such as headrest,
seatbelts and Automatic inflating bags.
Newton’s 2nd Law : Structural designs of race cars.
The mass of the race cars are reduced in order to accelerate faster.
Newton’s 3rd Law: Operation of rocket engines.
The action force is provided by the burned fuel ejected from the
combustion chamber. The downward force or thrust produces an equal
but opposite upward force (reaction). If the force is strong enough to
overcome the force of gravity, the rocket is accelerated upward.