PlanetPhysics/Applications of Newton's Laws of Motion
Examples of Applications of the First Two Newton's Laws of Motion
[edit | edit source]1. An ariplane during constant speed flight at a constant altitude as an illustration of {\mathbf Newton's First law}:
"Objects in motion tend to stay in motion, and objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless an outside force acts upon them" : see here an airplane illustration of Newtonian Dynamics from NASA.
Wings over Mars Flight Animations 2. An airplane taking off by increasing its thrust force after it has started from rest is an example of an application of {\mathbf Netwon's Second Law}:
"The net force on an object is equal to the product of its mass and its acceleration" , or mathematically
; see also the above pictorial example of an airplane or a rocket taking off from NASA's Glenn Research Center, and movies/simulations demonstrating quantitatively the first two laws.
An Application Example of Newton's Third Law
[edit | edit source]3. A movie of a rocket in flight provides a good example of the Third Newton's Law in action:
"Every force has an exactly equal opposing force, or reaction."
In the above movie example of a rocket moving upwards, the sum of the thrust force of rocket's exhaust gases and the air friction that are pointing downwards equals the reaction force pushing the rocket upwards. In vacuum, a rocket-- unlike an old propeller airplane -- will continue its motion at accelerated speed as long as it has fuel, precisely because of the Third Law of Newton; on the other hand, the propeller of an old airplane would not be pulling the airplane in vacuum even if it had plenty of fuel and its propeller was rotating at very high speed. A turbo--jet plane would however still function in vacuum based on reaction just like the rocket by being pushed forward by the reaction equal to the thrust of its exhaust gases.
See also :