Application of Newton’s Laws of Motion in Real Life

Newton’s laws of motion are one of the most important fundamental physics topics. The Newtons laws of motion are the basic laws that describe the motion of a body. Newton formulated three laws and in this article, Newton’s three laws of motion are discussed along with their applications in real life.

Newton’s First Law of Motion:

Law: It states that an object at rest or uniform motion will continue to be at rest or uniform motion until and unless a net external force acts on it.

This law is also known as the law of inertia. The application of this law is seen in several places. Some of the most common practical relevances of Newton’s first law of motion are:

●       When a train starts suddenly, the passengers sitting tend to fall backward. Similarly, when a train suddenly stops, passengers experience a forward jerk. This is due to the inertia of rest and motion respectively.

●       A ball lying on a flat surface remains in that position unless someone kicks it.

Newton’s Second Law of Motion:

Law: It states that an object starts to accelerate when acted upon by an external unbalanced force.

From this law, the formula F = ma is derived which simply means that the net force experienced by a body is directly proportional to the rate of change of momentum of the body. The practical relevances of this law are:

●       In cricket matches, the fielders always pull back their arms while catching a ball. By pulling their arms back, the acceleration of the ball decreases gradually and thus, the rate of change of momentum is reduced and the fielders’ hands remain unhurt.

●       A person can easily kick a rubber ball but not an iron ball. This is because the mass of the rubber ball is way lesser than an iron ball and thus, more force is required to move it.

Newton’s Third Law of Motion:

Law: It states that every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In other words, if a body X exerts a force F to another body Y then X experience the same backward force (i.e. F) from Y.

This law is also known as the law of action and reaction. This law is extremely important and has several practical applications. Some of the common applications of Newton’s third law in real-life are:

●       When the trigger of a gun is pulled, the person also experiences the same amount of force in the backward direction. This is known as the “recoil of the gun”.

●       In a spacecraft, gas shoots from the exhaust with a certain force. That same amount of force is exerted in the opposite direction (upward) which allows the rocket to move in the upward direction.

This was all about the three Newton’s laws of motion which govern the motion in our 3-dimensional world. For students, these laws are extremely crucial as the whole of mechanics is dependent upon these laws.

Students can also subscribe to BYJU’S YouTube channel and learn the laws of motion in a more engaging way by visualizing it. Apart from the laws of motion, students can also learn about Ohm’s law, resistors, types of resistor, pulleys, etc. in a more effective way at BYJU’S.