Newton posited three laws of motion, and all three are
present in every problem related to motion, even though the emphasis may be on only one
of the three in a given problem.
The first law, commonly
known as the law of inertia, basically means that objects want to keep doing what they
are already doing. If an object is in motion, it wants to keep moving and if an object
is at rest it wants to remain at rest. To change what an object is doing you must apply
a net force > 0 to the object. If you apply a net force to an object the object
will change its motion. This means that the object is acceleration - either speeding up
or slowing down if moving, and/or changing direction - or that an object at rest will
start moving. Inertia is an inherent property of all objects and is directly related
to the mass of the object. The greater the mass the greater the inertia. think of trying
to stop a large truck, vs. a toy car.
The second law
quantifies the relationship between the force applied to an object and how much the
object will accelerate depending on its mass. The second law is: F = ma. The second
law can also be rewritten by recognizing that a = delta v/delta t. The second law then
becomes:
F = m delta v/delta
t
This is rewritten as the impulse-momentum equation
as:
Fdelta t = mdelta v
This
form is particularly useful in problems related to collisions such as in sports where a
ball is struck (tennis, golf, volleyball, baseball, soccer,
etc.)
The third law essentially states that forces act in
pairs, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. For example, if you apply a force
of 100 N to the floor with your foot, the floor also applies a force of 100 N to your
foot.
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