Fun Facts About Newton’s Laws of Motion (Fifth Grade Physics continued)
The first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted upon by an outside force in the same way that an object in motion will remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. This simply means that the rock lying on the ground will not move unless something moves it. This is easy enough to understand. However, following the law a ball rolling on the floor will continue to roll unless something stops it. It is in this second part of law that the concepts of gravity and friction come into play. Both gravity and friction can be seen as outside forces that can stop a moving object. In the case of the rolling ball, friction would eventually stop the ball. In the case of a ball being thrown upwards, gravity would eventually stop the ball by pulling it towards the earth.
Second, Newton states that to calculate the net external force of a body, you must multiply the body's mass by its acceleration or that the force applied to a body is proportional to its acceleration. An easy example for this is your car. The amount of force you will need to push your car forward is proportional to how fast your car will go.
The third law of motion states that the force exerted by one object on another object will be equal to the amount of force the second object will exert back to the first object. Another way of stating it is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. This law is known as the law of reciprocals because any force is reciprocated. In this third law, forces are equal, but always act in opposite directions. For example, if you throw a basketball against a wall, the force which the wall will bounce the basketball back towards you is equal to the force which the basketball had when it hit the wall.
These laws don't only govern objects on earth, but they govern all objects in our universe. It is through these laws that we are able to fly planes, that man was able to land on and explore the moon, that space ships and satellite explorers were invented, and so much more.
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