Sacred Heart School

Central East, Bauang, La Union

NEWTON’S
LAWS OF MOTION

Submitted to:
Mr. Teddy Mac Panelo
Physics Instructor

Submitted by:
Ansherina T. Ariola
IV-St. Lorenzo Ruiz

Date Submitted:
November 11, 2010

laws he published in 1687. Although his laws

Laws Governing of motion appear relatively simple, his
perspective is not intuitively obvious and
Motion requires a retraining of the way we think. We
will now describe these laws of motion and
Motion is all around us—people walk, try to understand their meaning, illustrating
clouds move, rain falls, and water flows. them with common experience, but common
Things are moving wherever we look, and experience seen in a new way.
motion seems to be associated with all the
changes we observe. Understanding motion
is an important starting point in The First Law of
understanding the world. Newton helped us
to understand motion in terms of the three Motion

The First Law of Motion correctly describes
the motion of free objects: It simply states
that:
“Every object continues in its state of rest,
or of uniform motion in a straight line with
unchanging speed, unless compelled to do
otherwise by forces acting upon it.”
It seems obvious that an object at rest
remains rest if it is left alone, yet the
consequence can sometimes be startling. A
magician depends on this law when he pulls
the tablecloth from a table, leaving the
dinner service undisturbed. The plates and
goblets are at rest and remain at rest unless
the tablecloth “compels”
them to do otherwise.
A less entertaining manifestation of
the law occurs when a stopped car with
passengers is struck from behind. The
passengers’ heads momentarily remain at
rest while the car and the rest of their bodies
are “compelled” to move forward by the
force of the impact.
This results in stretching and bone
dislocation known as whiplash injur This First
Law also states that moving objects, if left to
themselves, will continue to move in a
straight line without changing speed—
uniform motion. At first this seems
contrary to our experience. Moving objects
always seem to slow down and stop if
nothing is done to keep them moving. Is this
not a violation of this statement of the law?
Our problem is that the objects with which
we deal are not free. Friction acts on them
and, if it is not opposed by other forces,
“compels” these objects to change from their
state of uniform motion.
We can test the validity of the First
Law, however, by considering the motion of
objects in situations where friction is greatly
reduced. One can easily imagine, for
example, that an ice skater could glide on
and on without ever slowing down if friction
could be eliminated totally (Fig. 3.1).
Figure 3.1. An ice skater could go on forever without
effort if friction were not present.
Those who drive on icy roads are
acutely aware of the consequences of the
law. It is a frightening experience to
approach an intersection, apply the brakes
because of a red light, and then proceed
through without slowing down.
Turning is also a problem because,
without friction, the car continues in a
straight line no matter how the wheels are
turned. After two or three such experiences,
one is easily convinced that the First Law of
Motion is valid.
Even so, the consequences of the law
still catch us unaware. A common auto injury
occurs when a passenger strikes the
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windshield when the car in which
he is riding suddenly stops. The passenger
keeps moving in accordance with the First
Law of Motion (Figure 3.2).
Figure
3.2. Both
drivers lose
their heads
in a rear-
end
collision.
Why?
 A final example suggests another
consequenc the law. A car makes a left turn
at modest speed. A package next to the
driver slides across the seat, away from the
center of the turn, and continues its straight-
line motion in accordance with the First Law
of Motion, while the car turns under it (Fig.
3.3).
Figure 3.3. Why does the passenger feel “thrown” to
the outside of a turn?
Incidentally, none of these examples
“proves” that the First Law of Motion is valid,
but all suggest that it might be. Considering
other consequences of the law seems
reasonable. As we gain additional experience
we gain increasing confidence in the validity
of the law.
Acceleration
Uniform motion in a straight line
without changing speed is the “natural”
motion of free objects. Any object that is not
in uniform motion is said to be
accelerating.
Figure 3.5. A coin rests on a moving turntable. How
do you know it is accelerating?
Force 2
Your intuitive understanding of force is
probably adequate for our present purposes.
Force is simply a push or pull exerted on
one object by another. A more sophisticated
definition of force is implied by the First Law
of Motion: force is anything that causes
acceleration. All accelerations are caused by
forces. Forces are acting whenever an object
moves faster, moves slower, changes
direction, or experiences any combination of
speed and direction change. The kind of
acceleration caused by a particular force
depends on the direction of the force. If a
force pushes on an object in the same
direction as its motion, the object speeds up.
The object slows down if the force opposes
its motion (Fig. 3.6). Lateral forces cause
change in direction with the object turning
toward the direction of the force (Fig. 3.7).

An object accelerates if its speed

changes, either to increase or decrease, or if
its direction changes. It is sometimes useful
to assign specific words to describe some
simple types of acceleration. Deceleration,
for example, denotes a decrease in speed Figure 3.6. Both pitcher and catcher exert forces that
whereas a direction change is properly accelerate the baseball. In which direction is each
designated as a centripetal (center- force applied?
seeking) acceleration. Any change from
uniform motion, however, is an acceleration
(Fig. 3.4 and 3.5)

Figure 3.4. Successive pictures, taken at equal time

intervals, of a car in four different kinds of motion. Why
do we say that the car is accelerating in c and d but
not in a and b?
Figure
3.7. The
puck slides in a circle on an air-hockey table without
friction. In what direction is the force exerted on the
puck by the string? (Hint: Have you ever seen a string
that could push on anything?)
 The strength of forces is measured in
pounds (lb) in the English system of units
and newtons (N) in the metric system. The
amount of acceleration produced by a
particular force is determined partly by its
strength. Stronger forces produce greater
accelerations. If a particular force causes an
object to accelerate from 20 to 30 mi/hr in
10 sec, a force twice as strong would cause
the same change in half the time.

A force half as strong would take 20

sec to produce the same effect. Most objects
we deal with are influenced by more than
one force. These forces may oppose each
other so that the resulting acceleration is
reduced, or they may act in the same
direction so that the acceleration is greater
than for either one by itself. The sum of all
the forces acting on an object is called the
net force or resultant force. The strength
and direction of the net force determine the
acceleration of the object. Forces cannot be
summed like ordinary numbers, however.
Forces have both a magnitude (strength) and
a direction. Such quantities, called vectors,
can be represented by an arrow whose
length has been scaled to represent the
magnitude and whose direction is that of the
pointed arrow. Two vectors can be added by
forming a parallelogram with the two
properly scaled and oriented vectors forming
the adjacent sides. The diagonal of the
parallelogram is the resultant force (sum of
the two) and will have both the proper length
and direction.
Mass
Not all objects experience the same
acceleration when acted upon by similar
forces. An ordinary car, for example, might
be able to provide significant acceleration to
a small empty trailer but considerably less
when the trailer is full. If a truck is loaded,
the time and distance required for a safe
stop increases significantly (Fig. 3.9). The
property of objects that determines how
much they accelerate in response to applied
forces is called mass. If mass is large,
acceleration will be less than if mass were
smaller. The smaller the mass, the greater
the acceleration.
3
Figure 3.8. Two vectors, A and B, are added to give
the
resultant, C. What is the resultant of D and E?
Mass does not depend on location. A
particular force causes the same amount of
acceleration no matter where the object is
located: near the earth, in interstellar space,
or anyplace else (Fig. 3.10). If the same
object experiences different accelerations at
different places, it is because the forces
acting on it are different, not because its
mass has changed. To be useful, the concept
of mass must be made quantitative. We want
to know, for example, whether a sack of
potatoes has a mass of one kilogram or two
kilograms. Quantities of mass are defined by
comparison to some arbitrarily defined
standard. The standard kilogram is decreed
to be the mass of a piece of platinumiridium
which is kept under the watchful care of the
The standard kilogram is decreed to be the
mass of a piece of platinumiridium which is
kept under the watchful care of the Bureau
Internationals des Poids et Measures at
Sevres near Paris.
4
Figure 3.9. The same force applied to different
objects produces different accelerations. Which of
these trucks is empty? Which has the greater mass?
Figure 3.10. A rocket (or any other object) is just as
hard to accelerate no matter where it is. Why?
The Second Law of
Motion
Perhaps briefly summarizing what we know
about motion so far will help:
1. If an object is left to itself, it will remain at
rest or move with its initial uniform motion.
2. Forces cause objects to accelerate. The
stronger the net force, the greater the
acceleration.
3. Accelerations are less if mass is larger.
4. Acceleration is in the same direction as
the net applied force (forward, backward,
sideways, or some combination of these).
The second, third, and fourth of these
statements constitute the Second Law of
Motion. In addition, the law specifies the
exact relationship between the mass of
an object, the strength of the net force
applied to it, and the amount of acceleration
caused by the force. The relationship is
acceleration = net force
mass
or, equivalently,
net force = mass x acceleration.
With the First and Second Laws of Motion,
you can begin to study the motion of
anything you observe. Remember, the
important question is not why an object
keeps moving but why its motion changes.
This question directs our attention to a
search for forces and their causes. An
understanding of the forces enables us to
determine if the accelerations we observe
are consistent with the forces and with the
object’s mass. If they are, we can go on to
other interesting problems; if not, we have
more to learn.
The Third Law of
Motion
Forces act on all objects. To
understand objects’ motion, or lack of
motion, we must consider where forces come
from, in what situations they occur, and what
determines their strength and direction.
Otherwise, we can neither explain nor
predict motion.
The first important observation about
forces is that they occur only when two
things interact with each other. Nothing can
exert a force on itself. For example, the
wheels of a car touch the road. If the
interactions between drive wheels and road
do not occur, perhaps because of ice on the
road, there is no force and the car does not
accelerate. A boat propeller touches the
water; an airplane propeller, the air. The
forces that accelerate a rocket result from
the contact between the rocket itself and the
fuel that burns inside. No object or system
that can exert a net force on itself has ever
been found or invented. Forces occur only
when two objects are associated with each
other, the most common association being
actual contact.
The next important observation is
that two forces act in every interaction, one
on each of the interacting objects. In some
cases, the two forces are both apparent. As a
man steps from a small rowboat to a dock,
he is accelerated toward the dock and the
boat accelerates in the opposite direction. A
rifle recoils (accelerates) whenever a bullet is
fired.
Sometimes, however, the second force
is less obvious and we may not recognize its
presence. When you start to walk, for
example, the force that accelerates you
comes from the interaction between your
foot and the floor. You push backward on the
floor (using your leg muscles), the floor
pushes forward on you, and you accelerate
in the direction of this force exerted on your
foot by the floor.
The forward force on your foot in this
example is obvious. It causes your foot and
its attachments to accelerate. The backward
force is not quite so apparent. Nothing
seems to accelerate in that direction. We
usually do not notice that the floor is rigidly
attached to theearth, and so its effective
mass is quite large. The floor is, in fact,
accelerated backward, but the amount of
acceleration is immeasurably small because
of the floor’s large mass. The presence of
this backward force would easily be revealed
if the floor were covered with marbles. Their
backward acceleration as you walked on
them would make the backward force readily
apparent.
By now you should have noticed that
the two forces that interacting objects exert
on each other always act in opposite
directions. When a man steps from a
rowboat, he is accelerated one way while the
boat moves in the opposite direction. A bullet
is fired in a particular direction, and the gun
recoils oppositely.
5 known as the Third Law of Motion, which
Figure 3.11. Identify the interaction, the two resulting
forces, and the accelerations that are produced when a
person kicks a rock.
You push backward on the floor and
the floor pushes forward on you. The two
forces in every interaction are always
oppositely directed. It can be shown by
careful measurements that th two forces in
any interaction have the same strength—a
rule always obeyed by nature. For example,
if you forcefully kick a stone, your toe
receives the benefit of a force that has the
same bone-breaking strength. If you kick
more gently, the force on your toe is also
more gentle by exactly the same amount
(Fig. 3.11).
Figure 3.12. Why is gravel thrown backward when a
car accelerates? What force accelerates the car?
You can probably imagine how this
rule might be tested. Arrange for two
objects, whose masses you know from
another experiment, to interact with each
other; measure the accelerations caused by
the forces of interaction; and use the Second
Law of Motion to calculate the forces.
Thousands, perhaps millions, of experiments
of this kind have been performed since
Newton first suggested the rule. In every
case, the forces the interacting objects exert
on each other have been shown to have
exactly the same strength (Fig. 3.12).
The properties of forces described above are
collectively
is stated as follows:
“All forces result from interactions between
pairs
of objects, each object exerting a force on
the
other. The two resulting forces have the
same
strength and act in exactly opposite
directions.”
As you can see, the Third Law of Motion is a
rule about forces. It is a law of “motion” only
to the extent that forces and motion are
related through the Second Law of Motion.
Nevertheless, the law seems to be obeyed by
all the forces in nature that can be studied in
detail. There are apparently no exceptions.
Notice that the Third Law does not tell
everything about forces. It gives no
information about how strong the forces will
be for any given interaction. This information
is expressed by force laws that describe the
kinds of interactions that occur in nature and
the resulting forces. These are described in
the next chapter.
Application
The First Law of Motion can be used
to “explain” auto whiplash and windshield
injury, the sensation of being thrown outward
during a turn, the almost effortless motion of
an ice skater, and other common
experiences.
The Second Law of Motion can be
used to “explain” the nearly circular motion
of the planets, why
sliding objects slow down, why it is hard to
stop or turn
on slick roads, the behavior of electrons in a
TV tube, the operation of electric and
gasoline motors, why it is
easier to accelerate a motorcycle than a
truck, and much, much more. Indeed, every
mechanical device 6 7. Standard: An arbitrarily chosen object of
involving internal or external motion is based
on the
Second Law.
The Third Law of Motion can be
used to “explain” the operation of a rocket
engine, the “kick” of a rifle or shotgun, the
operation of a jet or propeller-driven aircraft,
the motion of a boat when a person steps off
it,and many other phenomena. In each case,
the Third Law of Motion describes some
features of the relevant forces. The resulting
motions are then predicted by the Second
Law of Motion.
GLOSSARY
1. Acceleration: Change from uniform
motion Acceleration in this broader sense
may be acceleration (speeding up),
deceleration (slowing down), centripetal
(change of direction) or a combination of
these.
2. Force: A push or pull. All forces result
from interactions between two objects (Third
Law), so that
the terms “force” and “interaction” are often
used interchangeably.
3. Friction: A force arising from contact
between surfaces of materials that prevents
or retards relative motion of the surfaces.
4. Mass: Acharacteristic of objects which
determines
the degree to which they can be accelerated
by applied forces. Mass is also a
characteristic of objects that determines the
strength of their gravitational interaction
with matter, specifically with other objects
with mass.
5. Net Force (sometimes, resultant force):
The single
force which can be used to replace two or
more individual forces on an object for
purposes of determining its motion.
6. Uniform Motion: Motion in a straight line
with
unchanging speed.
comparison
for purposes of defining units of
measurement. Units of length, mass, and
time are defined by comparison to
standards. For example, the standard
kilogram is a particular piece of platinum-
iridium metal belonging to the International
Bureau of Weights and Measures near Paris.
REFERENCE.
NEWTONIAN PHYSICS by Benjamin Cowell
Copyright 1998-2008
ISBN 0-9704670-1-X
Fullerton, California
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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION …………………_…………………………………………………………………………... 1
FIRST LAW OF MOTION …………………………………………………………………………….…… 1
SECOND LAW OF MOTION ……………………………………………………...…… 4
THIRD LAW OF MOTION …………………………………………………………..... 5
APPLICATION ……………………………………………………………………………… 6
GLOSSARY /and REFERENCE …………………………………………………...…………..……...….. 7