HISTORICAL CONTRIBUTIONS:
Isaac Newton:
Laws of Motion:
st
1 Law – Law of Inertia – an object will remain at rest or in constant motion unless it is acted
upon by an unbalanced force.
nd
2 Law of force mass and acceleration: force mass and acceleration are influenced by each
other. F = m x a
rd
3 Law of momentum – every force has an equal but opposite reaction force.
Law of Universal Gravitation: all objects in the Universe are attracted to each other based on
mass of objects and distance between them.
Force : a push or a pull
Balanced forces: when two forces are exerted on an object that are equal but acting in opposite
directions. No change occurs.
Unbalanced forces: when two forces are exerted on an object and they are unequal causing the
object to change its motion.
The forces can act in the same or opposite directions.
Forces acting in the same direction (both arrows pointing in the same direction) are added
together.
Forces acting opposite of each other are subtracted.
Types of forces we deal with on an every day basis:
Weight (gravity) - the force an object has based on its mass and the acceleration of gravity (9.8
m/s/s)
Friction – the forces exerted from two objects touching each other in regard to motion.
Work: the product of exerting a force on an object over a distance. If the object’s movement
from one point to another does not occur then technically work has not occurred. Newtonmeters results in the unit Joules for work.
Speed Graph
Acceleration Graph