Isaac Newton developed universal principles to explain and predict the motion of objects in the natural world. His three laws of motion describe the interrelationship between force, mass, and acceleration. The laws explain the concept of inertia, the intrinsic nature of force, and the equal and opposite reaction. Newtonian mechanics provides analytical tools to accurately predict changes in motion resulting from external forces.
Newtonian mechanics is the study of the causal relationship, in the natural world, between force, mass, and motion. The 17th-century natural philosopher and scientist Isaac Newton developed a set of universal principles, elegant in their simplicity, to help explain and predict the motion of objects in the natural world and the degree to which these objects change their relative motion as they interact with external forces. Newton incorporated the interrelationship between the physical concepts of force, mass, and acceleration into his three laws of motion. The ability of these mechanisms to accurately describe the natural phenomenon under observation derives from the application of these distinct laws of motion.
The first law of motion states that a body in motion tends to remain in motion and a body at rest tends to remain at rest. This principle explains the concept of inertia, i.e. the application of force necessary to move a stationary object. Similarly, the deceleration of a body, which otherwise moves at a constant speed, can only occur when an external force acts on it. For example, a bullet fired from a rifle would continue its motion in a certain direction forever, were it not for the simultaneous forces of gravity and air resistance in the atmosphere. These forces work together on the bullet to cause it to stop some distance from where it was initially fired.
Newton’s second law of motion is a mathematical or quantitative formula that describes the intrinsic nature of force. Newton postulated that the amount of force exerted is directly proportional to the mass of a body, multiplied by its acceleration, of=ma. If two distinct bodies move with constant acceleration, the object with the greater mass will produce the greater force. This principle can be illustrated by the example of a car and a locomotive traveling towards each other at equal speed. When the two objects collide, the force exerted on the car will be enormously greater due to the much greater mass of the locomotive.
The third law of motion can be summed up with the statement that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, the forces of two bodies acting on each other are always equal and directly opposite. For example, the force that a baseball bat exerts on a bat is equal and opposite to the force that the bat exerts on the ball.
Newtonian mechanics provides analytical tools that an observer can use to accurately predict changes in the motion of a body resulting from external forces acting on it. These principles are equally applicable to the motion of large celestial objects or the motion of a simple tennis ball. By using vectors to represent the magnitude and direction of a moving body, as well as how external forces impact that body, an observer can accurately predict the resulting net speed and direction of a body, which is the sum of all external forces acting on that body at a given moment.
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