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Physics · Ch 4 — Laws of Motion

Newton's Laws of Motion

4.3

Newton's Laws of Motion

Newton's three laws of motion, in their classical statement, are:

First law: Every inanimate object continues to be in its state of rest, or of uniform (unaccelerated) motion in a straight line, unless and until it is acted upon by an external, unbalanced force.

Second law: The rate of change of linear momentum of a rigid body is directly proportional to the applied force and takes place in the direction of the applied force. In suitable (SI) units this becomes F⃗=dp⃗dt\vec{F}=\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}, where p⃗=mv⃗\vec{p}=m\vec{v} is the linear momentum.

Third law: To every action (force) there is an equal and opposite reaction (force). …