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What are Newton's Laws of Motion?
Isaac
Newton (1643 - 1727) changed
the way
that people understood forces and
motion.
The "common
sense" view (developed in
ancient Greece)
said that a single force is
needed to sustain motion.
This means that if you want to keep a
bicycle moving on flat ground,
then you have to keep pedalling or it
will slow down and stop.
Newton changed this
view,
showing that ideas of balanced and
unbalanced forces
were better at explaining how objects
moved.
The three laws of motion are given below in plain English.
First Law.
If the forces on an object are balanced
then it will carry on as it
is.
Second Law.
If the forces on an object are unbalanced
then
the resultant force will cause the motion
of the object to change.
The bigger the force, the bigger the
change in motion.
Third Law.
When two objects push or pull against
each other,
the forces that they feel are equal and
opposite.
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