What are Laws of Motion?

Nothing can move without a force to start it on its way. Forces are also needed to make things move faster, to change their direction, and to make them stop. In 1687, the English scientist Issac Newton came up with three simple ideas that show how forces affect the way things move. These ideas are called the Laws of Motion.

Newton’s First Law

If an object is not moving, it will stay completely still unless an outside force acts on it. If an object is already moving, it will keep on moving at the same speed, and in a straight line, unless an outside force, such as gravity, causes it to change its motion.

Newton’s Second Law

If an outside force pushes or pulls on an object that is not moving, it will start to move in the same direction as the force. If an object is already moving, an outside force will cause it to move faster, slow down, or change direction.

Newton’s Third Law

This law says that “Every action has an equal and opposite reaction”. This means that when a force acts in one direction, it creates another equal force in the opposite direction. An example of this is a ball bouncing off a wall. For example: the ball will stay where it is until it is kicked, or blown by a strong gust of wind. The kick provides a pushing force on the ball. The ball moves off in the same direction as the force. When this ball hits the wall, it pushes against the wall in the direction it was moving in.

Moving forever

Every object that is moving through air will eventually come to a stop, because the air pushes back against the moving object, slowing it down. This force is called air resistance. However, in space there is no air, which means that once something starts to move, it will keep moving forever! This is an example of Newton’s First Law.

 

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