An Overview of Newton’s Law of Motion and Its Role in Our Lives

Newton’s first law of motion states “An object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force”. This means that if there is no force acting on an object, it will not accelerate or move unless there is a force acting on it or moving. For example if there is a ball on the sidewalk and it is not moving, if I don’t push/ pull it or if the wind doesn’t move it, the ball will still stay at rest. So in this case, the wind or I will be that force moving the object. If we don’t do anything, the ball won’t either. Okay, let’s break it down, let’s say I took away all the air pressure and gravity from earth, and I had a ball. Then, I would push the ball. The ball would go on moving forever in a straight line unless another force acted on it. Like if gravity came back and pulled the ball. That is an example of how an object would be in uniform motion unless acted by another force. Now an example of an object at rest. I am going to use the same example of the ball in gravity, but, in another perspective. Such as, if there would be no gravity and or air pressure. Then I leave a ball in the center of the room. The ball would not move and or stay at rest unless gravity came in and pulled the ball. That would be a way that the ball at rest would be disturbed or moved.

Newton’s second law of motion is “The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.” This is just basically just net force. To get the net force of something, we had to add the forces if they were going to the same way, and if they were going in different directions, we had to subtract them. That is how to get net force. Net force is the sum of all the forces acting on an object. This is the second law.

Now, Newton’s third and last law is “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” This law is simple, yet many people understand it in the wrong way. Some make such a simple law, complicated; when there is no need to. This law is one that we use every single day of our life. An example of this is just the simple act of walking. Our foot on the sidewalk is one force. The equal reaction is our foot. The opposite is the force the sidewalk is giving back to us. This interaction and segregation of forces, create the ability for us to walk. Product packaging is very important to all of us now in days. If the packaging of a product that someone buys – not even the actual product – is damaged, what do people do? Return it! So, this plays an important factor in our life. Though it might seem simple to some but, packaging a product takes a lot of math and science in order for it to be successful. For example, the packaging of eggs. This one is very complicated. Eggs usually come with a dome-shaped outer casing that covers each egg. This involves a lot of math because the designers have to measure exactly how many millimeters away the casing is going to fit on the egg. Food packaging is primarily used to protect the item during shipment and storage. Why would there have to be some space between the egg and the casing? Well, here is an example. If the plastic was right on the egg, if something bumped into it, the egg would break. And if the casing was too far from the egg, then during shipment and transportation, if the truck drove on a bumpy road, the eggs would obviously move and the plastic would keep them from flying out, but, when the eggs came back to their original position, it would hit it hard, and the eggs would break. Now, what the packagers do – leave a space between the egg and the plastic – is very astonishing because the eggs are hard to break since they have this casing on them. Leaving a space would prevent the egg from breaking if something bumped into it or hit it. Why? Because if they left a measured space, then the item that hit it, might dent the plastic, but, not fracture the egg. Also, the advantage of using plastic is that it lasts more and is sturdier than any other packaging system or supplies.

Going back to Newton’s Laws Of Motion, now that I have explained them, I can explain how they were incorporated in a project we made at school. In school, we were asked to make a contraption that would protect an egg when dropped at a distance of ten feet. Newton’s first law of motion explains why out egg fell and broke. When Mr. Mayo dropped the egg, it fell right to the floor and broke. This is because Newton’s first law of motion says that an object will stay at rest unless another force intervenes and disrupts this uniform motion. So, when Mr. Mayo dropped our egg, it would go straight down until some other object bumped into it. Also, the third law is implied because when the egg fell it happened as the third law says. In shorter terms, it is, when the egg hit the floor, it was the egg’s force acting upon the floor, and the floor back at the egg. This caused it to break. This is how Newton’s laws of Motion are applicable to the egg drop project.

In conclusion, Newton’s laws of motion are very important. They are used in our everyday life. When we drop anything, move anything, and just the simple act of walking. Although they might seem perplexed, but, they are quite simple. Newton’s laws of motion basically summarize life because every living thing moves and this is why these laws are so important.

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