An Overview

A large part of physics is force. Forces are

found everywhere.

Sometimes the force is

big, like the sun’s gravita-
tional pull on the planets.

Other times the force

is small, like pushing
a shopping cart
through the store.
He was a gentleman from England who devel-
oped both physics and calculus at the same
time. During his work he came up with three
ideas of the physics of motion. These ideas are
now called Newton’s Three Laws of Motion.
First Law:
An object at rest tends to stay at rest, and an ob-
ject in motion tends to stay in motion, with the
same direction and speed until a force acts upon

This ball will stay at rest un-

til a force makes it move.

This ball would

have continued if it
was for the man or
net stopping it.
Second Law:
Acceleration (the rate the object changes its ve-
locity) happens when a force is applied to mass
(all objects have mass). The greater the mass
an object has the more force needed to make it
accelerate (move). The less mass an object has
the less force needed to make it
move (accelerate).

A tennis ball has less mass than a bowling bowl, therefore it

takes less force to accelerate the tennis ball and more force to
accelerate the bowling ball.

Third Law:
For every action (or force) there is an equal and
opposite reaction (or force).
When a cannon is fired the ball
shoots out and one direction, but
the cannon itself is pushed back
in the opposite direction.
If a force is applied to an object it may change its energy.
That energy must be used to do work, or accelerate, an ob-
ject. There are many types of energy. Kinetic and Potential
energy are found in all things.

Potential Energy Kinetic Energy is

is stored energy – energy in motion –
that is it has the that is the energy
potential that was stored is
(possibility) to use now being used to
its energy to move move (or accelerate)
(or accelerate) the object.

Friction is a force that holds back or slows down the move-

ment of an object.

There is friction between the golf ball and the

grass. This is what caused a golf ball to stop roll-
ing after it has been hit with the club.

There is friction between the tires of a car

and the road. If the road is wet there is less
friction making harder for the car to stop.
 Information compiled and organized by

Angelic Boyers

LME 537

References
Examining Gravity and it’s pull. (2005). Laws of motion. Retrieved January 12, 2011, from http://
player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=CDA9C235-0EC4-4CA5-A713-
B920EBD189D2&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Friction on the ground and in the air. (2005). Laws of motion. Retrieved January 12, 2011, from http://
player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=CDA9C235-0EC4-4CA5-A713-
B920EBD189D2&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Let's move it: Newton's laws of motion. (2007). Discovery education. Retrieved January 10, 2011, from http://
player.discoveryeducation.com/index.cfm?guidAssetId=CD57F186-3466-48A8-892F-
E4CA072F48F7&blnFromSearch=1&productcode=US
Motion basics. (1997-2010). Physics4kids. Retrieved January 9, 2011, from http://www.physics4kids.com/files/
motion_intro.html

Picture of Sir Isaac Newton. (2009). Climate progress. Retrieved January 9, 2011, from http://
climateprogress.org/2008/05/30/krauthammers-strange-denier-talk-points-part-1-newtons-laws-were-overthrown/