Newton’s 3 laws of motion

and their real world applications and

effects

By:
Avaneesh
 Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton was one of the greatest scientists in history. He was born on
December 25 1642, in Woolsthorpe Lincolnshire, England. He made discoveries
that were fundamental in science for centuries to come. He discovered that white
light is composed of multiple different colors blended together using a prism and
laid the fundamentals of modern physical optics. He also was the original
discoverer of the infinitesimal calculus, which is used often in research in the field
of electromagnetism and is used in einstein’s theory of general relativity. He made
revolutionary discoveries about gravity and how it works and affects all celestial
bodies. He also wrote the 3 laws of motion, which were used for centuries by
scientists all around the world.
 Newton’s First Law
Newton’s first law states that “every object will remain in uniform motion in a straight
line or at rest unless compelled to change its state by the action of an external force”,
this is often taken as the definition of inertia(Hall, Nancy, NASA).

This means that all objects will remain still or move at the same speed/velocity in the
same direction unless a force greater than the normal force(that always exists)is
applied upon said object.

An example of where this law is clearly seen is when a rocket is in space, the rocket
will continue on it’s path forever until it hits some object. This is due to the fact that
there is no atmosphere in space and is a near perfect vacuum, this means that there
is no friction to slow the rocket down. If the law was not true an you had to always put
energy to move, it would be vastly more difficult for space travel to be possible.
 (buyautoinsurance) (NASA)

When a golf ball is on the tee, there are no external forces acting upon it that exceed the
normal force and the pull of gravity, but when the ball is hit with the club, the force is
greater than the normal force and sends the ball flying into the air. The ball will
eventually fall down as the velocity and speed of the ball decreases due to friction by
rubbing against particles in the air, it loses more and more energy and falls to the ground
as the force of gravity overcomes its own.
 Newton’s Second Law
Newton’s second law is a quantitative description of the changes that a force can
create on the motion of a body. It states that the time rate of change of the
momentum of a body is equal in both magnitude and direction to the force applied
on it. The momentum of a body is equal to the product of its mass and its
velocity(Britannica).(momentum is a vector quantity like velocity).

In layman’s terms this means that to get the same amount of acceleration you will
need to apply more force. Because a=f/m(acceleration=force divided by mass),
this is rearranged from the formula for force f=ma(force=mass times acceleration).
This is why you need to use more force to throw a bowling ball than you need to
throw a football , the bowling ball has more mass therefore it needs more force to
be applied on it to go as fast as if you throw a football. Therefore the mass and
acceleration are directly proportional to the force.
 (buyautoinsurance.com)

The football will be easier to throw than the bowling ball as the bowling ball has
more mass in comparison to the football as mass and acceleration are inversely
proportional(more mass means that when applying the same force there will be
less acceleration in comparison to if the object had a lower mass).
 Newton’s Third Law
The statement means that in every interaction, there are 2 opposite forces acting on
the 2 interacting objects. The size of the forces on the first object equals the size of the
force on the second object. The direction of the force on the first object is opposite to
the direction of the force on the second object.(physicsclassroom)

This means that for every action that we will experience a reaction that is equal in
magnitude and will be in the opposite direction. An example of this would be when we
walk, we apply force on the ground an the ground in turn applies a force back on us,
this is what makes us move forward when we walk. The same is true with spacecrafts
and planes, the engines/thrusters push hot air behind them an the atmosphere pushes
back on them with an equal and opposite force. In space though, the spacecrafts are
propelled by the gas molecules(H2O(g) and CO2)produced when burning fuel wanting
to expand, these molecules will push the spacecraft forward. This is also why to turn in
space rockets sometimes just let gas out in the opposite direction of where they want
(National Geographic)
 Misunderstandings With The Third Law
Some people think that if the third law was true then if they bounce a ball on the
ground it will bounce forever as there has to be an equal and opposite reaction, but
this is not the case, when a ball is dropped, two things happen with a very small gap
of time in between them. The first is that the ball bounces back up, but not to the
exact same extent, the second is that a huge amount of tiny vibrations occur around
the spot on which the ball bounced. The second is where the majority of the energy is
lost. The initial bounce causes the ground to be pushed down(not enough to see
clearly) the ground pushes back on the ball to send it back up into the air. However
there is some energy that is transferred and suppressed by the ground because of
these tiny vibrations an the energy is lost. Another thing that people misunderstand is
that objects do not push back with a normal force forever an that the amount of force
that they can push back with is unlimited, this is not true as once an object has too
much force applied on it its structural integrity is destroyed an it gives in to the
unbalanced force.
How Newton’s Laws Have Helped Solve Real Problems
1. The first law is applicable in car safety, when a car is slowing down(using the
brakes or in a crash) even though the car has decelerated you are still moving
forward(physicsclassroom). A person is already moving forward with respect to
the car, but when the car decelerates the person/people in the car are still
moving forward. If this force is not matched ot overtaken by another unbalanced
force people could get injured. This is why cars have seat belts in place to stop
people from flying out the front window in a crash or to slam their heads onto the
seat in front of them. Although these seatbelts have saved countless lives
(around 14,955 persons) there are still problems with it, namely that if there are
extreme amounts of force acting on the seat belt by a human he/she could get
injured an even break their ribs and/or collarbone. Even though is still safer than
if they had not been wearing a seat belt, it is still something that could be
improved on(bbc.co.uk).
How Newton’s Laws Have Helped Solve Real Problems 2
2. Newton’s second law was used when developing crumple zones in cars by Béla
Barényi. He theorised that because f=ma then if he could somehow reduce how fast
the car decelerated in a crash it would result in a dramatic increase in the amount
of energy that is transferred into a person’s body. This would also absorb energy
that This saved countless lives as a lower number of people die in car crashes now
due to this innovation. The problem with crumple zones though is that once a car is
in a big crash the car will be permanently damaged and you may need to buy a new
car instead of just getting it repaired and since buying a new car costs a lot of
money an that most people do not have saving large enough to fill the cost ready
when the crash happens as nobody expects to crash soon and immediately starts
saving money to be prepared to buy another car and maybe even pay for hospital
bills.
How Newton’s Laws Have Helped Solve Real Problems 3
3. The third law can be clearly observed when an aeroplane is flying, the wings are
pushing the air bellow it and this air pushes back against the wings of the plane
and this is is called lift. This has made aeroplanes the best mode of transport for
long distances and has improved economies as people can now migrate an travel
easily. The tourism sectors across the word have benefited from this an due to
them benefiting an having more money the economy grows. another place where
you can observe the third law is when a football player curves the ball to the side.
The ball when spinning in one direction pushes the air around it an due to the air
pushing back the ball will curve towards the direction of the spin(Hall,Nancy). The
problem with this is that to push enough air to get a plane up into the air it takes a
lot of energy and typically since planes use fossil fuels(carbon based) they
produce CO2 when burned(they burn more than 2000 liters per hour on average).
This is harmful for the environment and is causing global warming accounting for
1.9% of all greenhouse gasses(not just CO2).
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