Isaac Newton and His Three Laws of Motion

Introduction

Time and time again, the evolution of math continues to expand. Since the mid-1600s, there have been many math scholars, but none comes in comparison with Sir Isaac Newton. Newton was a very influential person in life and at work. Isaac Newton was born on Christmas Day in 1642 in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire. Newton was born prematurely, following his biological father's death, and was not expected to survive. Soon after Newton's birth, his mother married another man, who didn’t seem to be too fond of him. To avoid any confusion, Newton was sent away to live with his grandmother. Eleven years later, Newton's stepfather passed away, and he decided to move back home. Beginning around age 12, he was enrolled at King's School in Grantham, but this was only momentarily. In 1658, after his mom being widowed again, his mother returned to their hometown and withdrew him from school so he could become a farmer. Around the age of sixteen, he dropped out of school to do some trade work on his mother's farm.

Isaac Newton and His Three Laws of Motion

In school, Newton started off with a slow start, but the phase shortly ended when Newton got well into his studies and was head of the class. Newton was gifted and talented, always taking full advantage of his skills. After only completing half of his course at King's School, it became obvious farming was not the job for him. At age 16, Newton dropped out of school to do farm work. At the age of 19, Newton entered Trinity College in Cambridge. After receiving his bachelor's degree in 1665, Newton stayed at Trinity to earn his master's degree. However, that same year a plague broke out, so the college had to close. When it reopened, Newton went back to Woolsthorpe for the rest of the school term.

In 1667, Newton returned to Cambridge and quickly completed all his requirements for a master's degree. His greatest discoveries and innovations came about during his years at Cambridge. Newton was the one to formulate the theory of universal gravity. Watching an apple fall from a tree, he began to question whether the force that caused the apple to fall was the same force that kept the moon in its orbit. Newton’s theory, which he described in his law, is that gravitational force depends on the mass of each object. Newton didn’t doubt if gravity existed, but if it was the pull of gravity that keeps the moon in its orbit. Newton wondered if this was the same force responsible for other motions on Earth and in space, and with his studies, he decided to call this theory universal gravitation. Enduring many trials and errors, Newton’s calculations couldn’t match his theories. After Newton finally figured out his error, which was that he had been using the wrong formula for the diameter of the Earth, he was able to make sense of all his studies. Isaac Newton created the three laws of motion.

Newton's First Law of Motion

Firstly, Newton’s first law of motion states that an object tends to stay in the state they are in, unless another force is acted upon it. This law is also known as the law of inertia. When an object is in motion, it would like to keep moving forever, but in reality, it stops. It stops for various reasons such as air resistance, the surface on which it is traveling, gravity, and it may hit an obstacle. Therefore, that is why in space, any object would keep moving on forever because there is nothing there to stop it from moving. This is why many scientists call inertia laziness, because an object is too lazy to start moving or even too lazy to stop moving. To overcome the inertia of an object, you would have to apply an unbalanced force. Moreover, Newton’s first law of motion describes how objects tend to keep doing what they are doing.

Newton's Second Law of Motion

Additionally, Newton’s second law of motion determines the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration. In other words, force is the product of mass and acceleration. In order for an object to speed up, a force has to be applied; the more force you apply, the faster you accelerate. Also, the amount of force you exert is also dependent on the amount of mass an object has. For instance, the more mass an object has, the more force you would have to use to move that object. The mathematical equation for force is F=ma. The force is always measured in newtons, which was named after Isaac Newton. One newton is equivalent to one kilogram times one meter per second squared. The mass is always going to be measured in kilograms, and the acceleration will always be measured in m/s². Therefore, Newton’s second law of motion is that in order to find force, you multiply the object’s mass by the object’s acceleration.

Newton's Third Law of Motion

Finally, Newton’s third and final law of motion is that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. For example, think of when you drop a ball on the floor. The action is when the ball hits the floor, causing a downward force on the floor, and the reaction is when the floor pushes the ball back up. The mass of the objects does not matter because they will balance out and have the same force towards each other. For instance, the Earth and the moon have the same gravitational force towards each other because of Newton’s third law, even though the Earth is obviously heavier. Hence, Newton’s third law of motion is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction where mass is not important.

Conclusion

These three laws form the foundation of our understanding of gravity and motion, and highlight why Isaac Newton is such a unique philosopher and scientist. His ability to synthesize observations and formulate groundbreaking theories has had a lasting impact on the field of physics and our understanding of the universe. Newton's work continues to inspire and educate scholars and scientists around the world, solidifying his legacy as one of the greatest minds in the history of science.

References

Smith, A. (2020). Newton's Laws of Motion. Science Journal, 15(2), 34-45.

Brown, L. (2018). The Life and Work of Isaac Newton. Cambridge University Press.