NEWTONS LAWS OF MOTION

Newtons laws of motion are the basis of mechanics. Galileos version of inertia was formalized by Newton in a form that has come to be known as Newtons first law of motion. Newtons first law of motion: stated in Newtons words, the first law of motion is: Every body continues in its state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line unless it is compelled to change that state by forces impressed upon it. Newtons first law is also known as law of inertia and the motion of a body not subject to the action of other forces is said to be inertial motion. With the help of this law we can define force as an external cause which changes or tends to change the state of rest or of uniform motion of a body. Newtons first law is really a statement about reference frames. We know that the motion of a body can be described only relative to some other body. Its motion relative to one body may be very different from that relative to another. A passenger in an aircraft which is on its take-off run is at rest relative to the aircraft but is in accelerated motion relative to the earth. Therefore we always choose a set of coordinate axes attached to a specified body, relative to which the motion of a given body is described. Such a set of coordinate axes is known as a reference frame. The first law tells us that we can find a reference frame relative to which a body remains at rest or in uniform motion along a straight line ( i.e., it has no acceleration) when no net external force acts upon it. Such a reference frame is called an inertial frame. Thus an inertial frame is one in which Newtons first law correctly describes the motion of a body not acted on by a net force. Such frames are either fixed with respect to the distant stars or moving at uniform velocity with respect to them.