Newton’s 3 Laws of

1st Motion
Law of Motion: Law of Inertia
An object at rest tends to remain at rest.
If in motion, it will tend to move at
constant speed in a straight line unless it
is acted by an unbalanced external force
2nd Law of Motion: Law of Acceleration
When a force acts (pushes or pulls) on an
object, it changes the object’s speed or
direction (in other words it makes the
object accelerate).
The bigger the force, the more the object
accelerates.
3rd Law of Motion: Law of Interaction
When a force acts on an object, there’s
equal force (called a reaction) acting in
the opposite direction. This law is
sometimes written that “actions are equal
and opposite.”
1st Law: Law of Inertia
Inertia
• Inertia is the tendency of
objects to resist a change in 50 mph

motion.
• Example: seatbelts! 50 mph
• REMEMBER: Brain Pop
• Newton’s 1st Law: The Law of
Inertia
• An object at rest will remain
at rest, unless acted upon by
an unbalanced force

• An object in motion will

continue moving, in the same
direction, at the same speed,
unless an unbalanced force acts
on it.
Mass
• The mass of an object affects its’ inertia.
• Objects with more mass have more inertia than an
object with a smaller mass.
• It’s harder to make a large object move or change
the speed and direction of it when it’s moving.
Mass and Inertia
• If a car is going 50
kilometers
per hour and it comes to a
sudden stop, the people
inside continue moving 50
kilometers per hour unless
a
force prevents their
forward
motion through the Which is why WE
windshield wear SEATBELTS!!
More Examples from Real Life
A powerful locomotive begins to pull
a long line of boxcars that were
sitting at rest. Since the boxcars
are so massive, they have a great
deal of inertia and it takes a large
force to change their motion. Once
they are moving, it takes a large
force to stop them.
On your way to school, a bug
flies into your windshield.
Since the bug is so small, it
has very little inertia and
exerts a very small force on
your car (so small that you
don’t even feel it).
Newton’s
Second
Law
Law of
Acceleration
 Net Force, Mass
and Acceleration
 Isaac Newton
discovered one of the
most important laws
of nature; the
relationship between
net force, mass
(inertia) and
acceleration.
Newton’s Second Law
states that the net
force acting on a
mass causes the mass
to accelerate in the
direction of the net
force.
A shorthand way of
writing this law
is: f = ma
f = force in newtons (N)

m= mass in kilograms (kg)

a = acceleration in
meters per second per
 Objects with
more mass are
more difficult
to accelerate.
 If the same
force
is applied to
two objects
with different
masses, the one
with the
smaller mass
will accelerate
more.
 More mass
means less
acceleration,
unless a
larger force
is applied.
Same
Forces

leads to
small mass large
acceleration

leads to

large mass
small
acceleration
Different
Forces
small
force small
mass

Same
can lead
large Acceleration
to
force
large
mass
 Falling Objects
and Newton’s 2nd
Law
The Italian
physicist
and
astronomer,
Galileo
Galilei,
studied
falling
 He found that
when two objects
of different
masses are
dropped, they
fall at the
same rate.
This was never fully
understood until
Isaac Newton
announced his Second
Law of Motion.
 In the case of free
falling objects,
the force is equal to

the weight of the

object, which is
determined by the
acceleration
of gravity (9.8
 Try dropping a
book and a ball of
paper. See what
happens.
 Now try dropping a
piece of paper and a
book.
Most likely you will
see that the paper
falls more slowly.
 Remember the book
has more weight
than the paper, so
it has more force
to resist friction
from the air.
ACCELERATION is the rate of change in velocity
with time
a = acceleraton
Fnet = net force
m = mass

a = Fnet m = Fnet
Fnet = ma
m a

a = change in velocity a = Vf - Vi
or
tme t
UNITS
a = Fnet
m

a = Vf - Vi
m/s 2

Fnet = ma Newton (kgm/s2)

m = Fnet
a kg
PROBLEMS

1. A bus travels down a straight highway and

goes from 0 to 10 m/s in 5 sec. What is its
acceleration?

2. Find the net force required to give a 1200

kg automobile an acceleration of 2m/s2.

3. What acceleration will result when a 12N

net force is applied to a 3kg object?
Assignment:
PROBLEMS
1. A boy with a mass of 30 kg is running with a
velocity of 10m/s. The boy runs faster and
change his velocity to 25m/s for 3 sec.
a. What is the boy’s acceleration?
b. What is the net force applied by the boy?
2. A 3.5kg papaya is pushed across a table. If the
acceleration of the papaya is 2.2m/s2 to the
left, what is the net external force exerted on
the papaya?
QUIZ
1. A book has a mass of 1kg. If a force of 10N
acts on it, how much acceleration will it
have?
2. How much force is required to move a 10kg
box with an acceleration of 3m/s2?
3. A force of 1.6N acts on a body producing
an acceleration of 56m/s2. What is the mass
of the body?
 3rd Law of Motion: Law of Interaction
When a force acts on an object, there’s equal force
(called a reaction) acting in the opposite direction.
“For every action there is an equal and opposite
reaction.”