Newton’s Three Laws of Motion Practice
1st Law of Motion: An object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force.
2nd Law of Motion: Force = Mass x Acceleration (F=MA)
3rd Law of Motion: For every action there is an equal and opposite action.
Directions: Which Law of Motion is each an example of?
1. You stop your bicycle very quickly and you fly over the handlebars.
2. You fire a cannon and the cannon moves backwards 3 meters after the cannonball shoots forward.
3. A paper airplane flies across a room until it hits a wall.
4. A soccer ball will sit on the field until someone kicks it.
5. This Law is also called the Law of Inertia.
6. To move an object with a lot of mass takes more force
7. A balloon filled with air is released and goes flying across a room.
8. If you use the same amount of force to push a heavy box and a light box, the light box will move faster.
9. A book will sit on a table until someone picks it up.
10. When an airplane takes off quickly, the passengers are thrown back in their seats.
11. You push against a wall and the wall exerts an equal force back at you.
12. A falling object will continue to fall unless it is stopped by an outside force.
Directions: Complete the following problems using Newton’s Second Law of Motion.
A sprinter with a mass of 70 kg accelerates at a rate of 5 m/s2. What force is the sprinter exerting?
2. An 80 kg long jumper in flight accelerates at a rate of 10 m/s2. What is the force of the long jumper?
3. A tow truck pulls a 1,100 kg car and accelerates at a rate of 3 m/s2. What is the force of the tow truck?
1. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
2. Example of Newton's Third Law of Motion.
3. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
4. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
5. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
6. Example of Newton's Second Law of Motion.
7. Example of Newton's Third Law of Motion.
8. Example of Newton's Second Law of Motion.
9. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
10. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
11. Example of Newton's Third Law of Motion.
12. Example of Newton's First Law of Motion (law of inertia).
Answers to the problems:
1. F = m x a = 70 kg x 5 m/s^2 = 350 N
2. F = m x a = 80 kg x 10 m/s^2 = 800 N
3. F = m x a = 1100 kg x 3 m/s^2 = 3300 N