Laws of Motion – In physics, a force is defined as something that changes an object’s state of motion. If you push something, or pull something, you are exerting a force on it. Forces are found all over.
QUESTIONS: Laws of Motion – Which of the following did Newton NOT contribute to our scientific understanding of the world?
Newton's First Law of Motion – Newton's First Law of Motion is also called the Law of Inertia. Inertia means resistance to change in motion. It says that an object that is in motion will stay in motion, moving in the same direction and at the same speed, until some unbalanced force acts upon it. Similarly, an object that is at rest (not moving) tends to stay at rest, until some unbalanced force acts upon it to make it move.
QUESTIONS: Newton's First Law of Motion – Name at least two forces that affect objects on Earth and define each.
Newton's Second Law of Motion – What this means is that objects of greater mass require greater force in order to accelerate. If you apply a force to two different objects with different masses, the force applied to the object with the smaller mass will be more noticeable than the same force applied to the larger object.
QUESTIONS: Newton's Second Law of Motion – Which of the following is NOT referenced in Newton's Second Law of Motion?
Newton's Third Law of Motion – His Second Law of Motion adds that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of that object times its acceleration. Newton’s Third Law of Motion builds upon these first two, adding that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
QUESTIONS: Newton's Third Law of Motion – Explain what is going on with the forces involved in an armchair that is at rest on the living room floor.
Newton's Place in Scientific History – Newton was influenced by both Galileo Galilei and Copernicus. Galileo was the first to prove that regardless of their mass, all objects fall at the same rate of acceleration, a turning point in science which played a key role in Newton's later "discovery of the force of gravity.
Questions: Newton's Place in Scientific History – Which of the following did Newton NOT contribute to our scientific understanding of the world?
Forces and Motion – In physics, a force is an interaction with an object that will change that object’s motion as long as it is unopposed. A force has both magnitude and direction. The work of Galileo and Newton changed our understanding of how forces work.
Questions:Forces and Motion – What did people think about how forces work before Galileo?
Newton's Laws of Motion and Rockets – A rocket needs an enormous amount of thrust to overcome the force of gravity. Gravity is the force that keeps things on the surface of the Earth, rather than floating around like objects do in space. All objects have gravity, but because the Earth has so much mass, the influence of its tremendous gravity reaches all the way into space.
Questions: Newton's Laws of Motion and Rockets – A rocket that reaches space is still subject to what?
Transportation – Take the example of riding in a car. The car is moving. But though you are sitting still in your seat in the car, you are moving too, at the same speed as the car. So, say both you and the car are moving forward at 65 miles per hour. When you are wearing your seatbelt, you are physically bound to the car.
Questions: Transportation – Explain the difference in your relationship to a moving car you are riding in with regards to whether or not you are wearing your seatbelt.
Inertia from Aristotle to Newton – All objects have inertia, but some resist change more than others. Objects with a larger mass tend to have more inertia. Objects with a lesser mass tend to have less inertia.
QUESTIONS: Inertia from Aristotle to Newton – Which scientist explained that objects have a natural place and they always seek to return to that place?
Isaac Newton – Isaac Newton was a famous scientist who lived in the seventeenth century. Though he contributed many things to our scientific understanding of the world, such as the theory of gravity, the laws of motion, calculus and the reflecting telescope, his greatest contribution to science was not any one discovery, but the way that he built upon the work or previous scientists, integrating and organizing existing scientific knowledge.
QUESTIONS: Isaac Newton – In particular, Newton built upon the work of what scientist? What kind of work?