Newton's three lawsNewton, who was born in the year that Galileo died, produced a nearly perfect (for the time) response to Galileo's suggestion. He said that the movement of objects can be fully described in only three laws. These laws all show how motion is related to forces. One definition for the term force in science is a push or a pull. If you push a wooden block across the top of a table, for example, you exert a force on the block. One benefit of Newton's laws is that they provide an even more precise definition for force, as will be demonstrated later.
The first law. Newton's first law of motion is that an object tends to continue in its motion at a constant velocity until and unless an outside force acts on it. The term velocity refers both to the speed and the direction in which an object is moving.
For example, suppose that you shoot an arrow into space. Newton's first law says that the arrow will continue moving in the direction you aimed it at its original speed until and unless some outside force acts on it. The main outside forces acting on an arrow are friction from air and gravity.
As the arrow continues to move, it will slow down. The arrow is passing through air, whose molecules rub against the arrow, causing it to lose speed. In addition, the arrow begins to change direction, moving toward Earth because of gravitational forces. If you could imagine shooting an arrow into the near-perfect vacuum of outer space, the arrow would continue moving in the same direction at the same speed forever. With no air present—and beyond the range of Earth's gravitational attraction—the arrow's motion would not change.
The first law also applies to objects at rest. An object at rest is simply an object whose velocity is zero. The object will continue to remain at rest until and unless a force acts on it. For example, a person might hit the object with a mallet. The force of the blow might change the object's motion, giving it both speed and direction.
The property of objects described by the first law is known as inertia. The term inertia simply means that objects tend to continue in whatever their state of motion is. If moving, they continue to move in the same way, or, if at rest, they continue to remain at rest unless acted on by an outside force.
The second law. Newton's second law clearly states the relationship between motion and force. Mathematically, the law can be stated as F = m · a , where F represents the force exerted on an object, m is the object's mass, and a is the acceleration given to the object. The term acceleration means how fast the velocity of an object is changing and in what direction.
To understand the second law, think of a soccer ball sitting on the ground. If you kick that ball with a certain force, the ball will be given a certain acceleration. If you kick the ball with twice the force, the ball will be given twice the acceleration. If the ball then bounces off the goal post and out of bounds, the force of the impact with the goal post will change the ball's direction.
The second law provides a more precise way of defining force. Force is any action that causes a body to change the speed or direction with which it is moving.
The third law. Newton's third law says that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. A simple example of the law is a rocket. A rocket is simply a cylindrical device closed at one end and open at the other end in which a fuel is burned. As the fuel burns, hot gases are formed and released through the open end of the rocket. The escape of the gases in one direction can be considered as an action. Newton's law says that this action must be balanced by a second action that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. That opposite action is the movement of the rocket in a direction opposite that of the escaping gases. That is, the gases go out the back of the rocket (the action), while the rocket itself moves forward (the reaction).
Read more:
http://www.scienceclarified.com/Io-Ma/Laws-of-Motion.html#ixzz3KFikS1WB
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