Newton's Laws of Motion

Newton's Laws of Motion

1. First Law of Motion

   • States that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object moving at a constant velocity will continue moving at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force
   • Inertia
     • Tendency of an object to resist a change in motion
   • Inertia Depends on Mass
     • Some objects have more inertia than other objects
     • The greater the mass of an object, the greater the inertia, greater the force is required to change its motion

2. Second Law of Motion

   • Determining Acceleration
     • According to Newton's second law of motion, acceleration depends on the object's mass and on the net force acting on the object
     • Acceleration: Net Force/Mass
   • Changes in Force and Mass
     • A way to increase acceleration is to change the mass
   • States that Acceleration depends on the object's mass and on the net force acting on the object

3. Third Law of Motion

   • If one object exerts a force on another object, then the second object exerts a force of equal strength in the opposite direction on the first object
     • For every action, there is an equal but opposite reaction
   • Action-Reaction Pairs
     • With every action, there's a reaction
     • Action & Reaction forces don't cancel out because they are acting on different objects
   • Momentum
     • Defined as a characteristic of a moving object that is related to the mass and velocity of the object
     • Momentum of a moving object can be determined by multiplying the object's mass and velocity
     • Mass x Velocity
     • The more momentum a moving object has, the harder it is to stop
   • Conservation of Momentum
     • Law of Conservation of Momentum
       • In the absence of outside forces, the total momentum of objects that interact, doesn't change
       • The total momentum of any group of objects remains the same, or is conserved, unless outside forces act on the objects