Scientific Sunday #1 - Isaac Newton's First And Third Law

Isaac Newton's First And Third Law

Isaac Newton, perhaps the greatest scientist and mathematician of his time, or even till now. He has enlighten the world with his great work, some of the famous on are the book: Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica and the law of Gravity. But today we are not going to touch neither of those first, instead, we going to take a look at the first and third law.

The First Law

Absent some force acting on it, an object sitting still will just sit there. A round object rolling along a perfectly frictionless and level surface will likewise continue rolling, towards the same direction and at the same speed, certainly. Also known as the law of inertia, the law tells that every object inherently resist change to their state of motion : A thing at still remains at still, an object in motion keeps its direction and speed. Unless any outside force acts on it. That is brief explanation on Newtons first law, there are some real life example of the first law, like, the Gyroscope.

A Gyroscope

Fact: During a U.S. space shuttle mission, astronauts experimented with a toy gyroscope, setting it spinning and then trying to change the direction of its axle. Even in the weightless environment, the gyroscope resisted- which surely would have pleased Newton.

The Third Law

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Seemingly simple, but this Newton's third law of motion describes such far ranging phenomena of how rockets and space shuttle launch into space and how squid propel themselves through water.

Every types of interaction create force, from simple pushing, pulling, friction, throwing or tension to the more complicated and obscure action of gravitation. But they all are the same, as forces come in pairs. 

An equal strength of paired force can be counterintuitive. 

One classic example is this: If an insect collides with the windshield of a moving car, of course the insect will be squashed by the car and you will think it's just because the car crashed the insect and the insects has no force acting on it. But thats not true, one way to think about it: The insect squashed itself on the windshield as much as the windshield squashes the insect.

Some other examples are how squids propel through water and jet engines.

A Squid

A Jet Engine

Fact: Like jet engines and jetting squid, rockets derive thrust from their own powerful exhaust. Since the exhaust during takeoff must generally be directed toward the ground , launch pads are designed to divert potentially damaging blasts sideways.

That's it for today, I will see you again next week 

Thanks for Reading