How do things change and remain the same?
How do automobile airbags function?
How do aircraft traverse the air?
How does water flow?
Why do structures seem static and don’t crumble away?
How do automobiles function?
Only physics and its findings can answer these questions and explain everything we observe daily.
This article will examine Newton’s laws, which describe how objects move and how they might be used in practical situations. We shall also draw attention to some of Isaac Newton’s other well-known rules.
What is the physics that explains these phenomena that we encounter every day?
It is known as classical mechanics or Newtonian mechanics (about physicist Isaac Newton, who is regarded as one of the field’s greatest pioneers), and it is the earliest branch of the science of body motion (mechanics), which is distinct from modern physics, which emerged later.
Newton Laws of Motion
The science of kinematics is founded on the three physical laws known as Newton’s laws of motion. These principles explain the connection between an object’s movement and the force acting on it.
These rules were developed by Isaac Newton, who utilised them to explain various physical systems and events. The fundamental principles of classical mechanics are these three laws, first published by Isaac Newton in 1687. Newton looked into and explained a variety of physical events using these rules. These equations are still among the most significant physical laws discovered since Newton demonstrated that they could explain Kepler’s laws of planetary motion in addition to the law of universal gravitation.
The most significant applications of Newton’s principles of motion in daily life are now covered, with their interpretation and mathematical expression.
Newton’s First Law
This indicates that without the impact of an imbalanced force, motion cannot change or slow down. If nothing impacts you, your position will remain stagnant. If you’re headed in one path, you’ll stay there forever unless something unexpected impacts you.
This means that the object’s velocity is constant if the resultant force, or the vector sum of the forces acting on the body, is zero. When an object’s velocity is constant, we refer to its magnitude and direction.
When you see a video of astronauts, we’ll now provide you with an excellent illustration. Ever notice how their tools seem to be floating? Only in space and by remaining still can they be used. Since no exterior force can alter the condition, it can be reflected through the motion of certain objects tossed at the camera; they all move straight ahead. In other words, if they put something in space, it will keep going in the same direction and at the same speed.
where
V is the object’s velocity.
t is time.
F is force.
As a result, we may state that a moving body maintains its velocity as long as no external force acts against it, while a static body will remain dormant unless impacted by external forces.
Inertia
One of the fundamental ideas in classical physics, the principle of inertia, is still employed to explain how forces acting on objects impact their motion.
The definition of inertia is “the degree of an object’s resistance to a change in velocity” or “resistance to change in motion.” Changes in the object’s speed or direction of motion fall under this category. When no external forces are acting on an object, it tends to move straight forward at a steady pace.
Examples of Newton’s First Law in Real Life (Inertia)
- After the electricity is switched off, the fan keeps running.
- When the still bus starts to move, step backwards.
Newton’s First Law of Motion Examples and Applications in Daily Life
Newton’s First Law can be used to explain how things happen around us. Here are several illustrations of Newton’s First Law of Motion.
Examples from Daily Life
- Car Air Bags
The air bag’s purpose is to inflate in the case of an accident and shelter the driver’s head from the windshield. An electrical switch is activated when an airbag-equipped vehicle experiences an abrupt drop in speed. This triggers a chemical reaction that creates a gaseous material that fills the airbag and protects the driver’s head.
- Unless it is moved, the book on the table stays in position.
- When you ride the descending elevator, blood rushes from your head to your feet before abruptly stopping.
- By slamming the handle’s bottom against a hard surface, the hammerhead can be tightened against the wooden handle.
- When you hit a sidewalk, rock, or anything else that abruptly stops a skateboard (or cart or bike), you fly forward away from the board.
- A description of how the aeroplane moves as the pilot adjusts the throttle.
Newton’s Second Law
Newton’s second law examines how an item moves when subjected to external forces. A large object accelerates or changes its speed consistently when constant pressure acts on it.
In the most basic scenario, a force applied to an object at rest causes it to accelerate in the force’s direction. Nevertheless, depending on the force, the object’s direction, and the frame of reference in which it is travelling, if an object is moving, it may appear to be accelerating, slowing down, or changing directions about one another.
The following equation can be used to express Newton’s second law mathematically:
Where m is the object’s mass, an is its acceleration, and F is the resultant force.
This equation uses the idea of momentum conservation, which states that an object’s momentum remains constant when all of the forces acting on it add up to zero. The momentum change rate is equal to the resulting pressure.
This rule also states that when two equivalent forces are applied to two separate bodies, the object with the greater mass will move slower and with less acceleration than the lesser group. For instance, to demonstrate:
If we have two identical engines, one for a large car and the other for a little car, the small engine will experience a higher acceleration due to its lower mass, and the vast engine will rev slower due to its higher mass.
Five concrete instances of Newton’s second law
- Newton’s second law of motion constantly comes into play when we want to move an object, such as stopping a rolling ball from hitting the ground or pushing a ball to make it go.
- Racing automobiles’ weight is being decreased to boost speed.
Engineers, for instance, strive to keep vehicle mass as low as possible when designing racing cars because lower mass results in more excellent acceleration, and more significant acceleration increases the likelihood of winning the race.
- Punt the ball.
When we kick the ball, we apply force in a particular direction, and the ball will go in that direction. Additionally, the farther away the ball is, the more energy we use on it and the more power it receives.
- Move the cart.
Pushing an empty cart in a grocery store is more straightforward than making an overloaded one. For acceleration, more mass necessitates more power.
- Two folks are strolling.
If one of the two people walking weighs more than the other, the heavier person walks more slowly because the lighter person accelerates more quickly.
Newton’s Third Law
In the universe, all forces exist in pairs that are equal but directed in the opposite direction. There are no isolated forces; for every exterior force that acts on an item, another point of similar magnitude works in the reverse order on the same object.
Internal forces prevent an isolated system from exerting a net pressure on the system since a point on one part of a system will be countered by a response force on another section of the system. A system cannot “bootstrap” itself into motion using only internal details; to generate a net power and acceleration, it must interact with an external object.
The following equation can be used to express Newton’s third law numerically:
Body 1 influences body 2 through force F1, and body 2 affects body 1 through force F2.
Examples and Real-World Uses of Newton’s Third Law of Motion Newton’s laws of motion applications in daily life
- After building rockets and other devices, engineers use Newton’s third law. For instance, the missile accelerates faster when it ignites because of the rush of gases to the top.
- Walking has a significant impact on the planet, and the earth also substantially affects the person, and thus both the world and the person are impacted.
- When you jump, your feet push down on the ground, and the earth responds by pushing you up into the air with an equal and opposite force.
- When a person is underwater, both the water and the person push each other back and forth, affecting the other.
- Helicopters produce lifting power by forcing the air downwards and exposing it to an upward reaction force.
- To fly, birds and aeroplanes exert force on air in the opposite direction of any necessary force. For instance, a bird’s wings force the air back and forth to propel the movement forward.
All in all, these 3 Newton’s Laws of Motion that are mentioned play a crucial role in physics. It can be challenging understanding such concepts and applying it to questions and content. Fret not, our knowledgeable and patient physic tutors at Pftuition Physics will be able to guide our students step by step along the way to attain complete mastery over their Newton Laws of Motion and most importantly physics as a whole.