Newton's Laws of Motion Quiz

Newton's Laws

Newton's First Law of Motion (Law of Inertia)

• An object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue to move with a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an external force.
• Inertia: the tendency of an object to resist changes in its motion.
• Examples:
  • A car maintaining its speed on a flat road.
  • A ball continuing to roll on a frictionless surface.

Newton's Second Law of Motion (F = ma)

• The force (F) applied to an object is equal to the mass (m) of the object multiplied by its acceleration (a).
• F = ma
• The more massive an object, the less it will accelerate when a given force is applied.
• The greater the force applied, the greater the acceleration.

Newton's Third Law of Motion (Action and Reaction)

• For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
• When two objects interact, they apply forces to one another that are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
• Examples:
  • When you push on a wall, the wall pushes back on you with equal force.
  • When a car accelerates forward, the ground exerts an equal force backward on the car.