This is a quick and easy demonstration of how to teach Newton’s laws with minimal fuss and materials. All you need is a wagon, a rock, and some friends. We’re going to do a few totally different experiments using the same materials, though, so keep up with the changes as you read through the experiment.
Remember that Newton covers a few different ideas. First, there’s the idea that objects in motion will stay going they way they’re headed, unless something gets in the way. Then there’s the resistance to motion (objects at rest tend to stay put), as well as force being proportional to how fast you can get something to move (acceleration). And lastly, there’s the idea that forces happen in pairs – if you shoot something one direction, you’re going to feel a kick in the opposite direction. Ready to see these ideas in action? Let’s go…
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Actually weight and gravity are directly connected to each other. Weight is a measurement of the force of gravity pulling on an object. Consider this:
Let’s use a golf ball as our example of an object. If we were somehow able to go out into space, far away from any star or planet, and we let go of the golf ball out in space, it would just sit there. This object is at rest and it will stay at rest because there are no forces pushing or pulling it. If you let go of the ball while standing on the earth, gravity pulls it to the ground. This as you mentioned is due to the weight of the object.
While we’re on this subject, we need to keep in mind that air also acts against moving objects.
Let’s go back out to space…If you through the golf ball out in space, it will keep moving in that direction until the gravity of some star or planet starts to affect it. This is because there is no air to resist the flight of the ball. If you through the ball while standing on the earth, two main things affect the ball’s journey: air immediately begins to resist the ball’s flight and gravity pulls it to the ground.
Question:
Newtons First Law says that Objects In Motion Will Stay In Motion While Objects In Rest Tends to Stay At Rest. What stops the moving object when there’s nothing in it’s way? Gravity? Or the weight of that object? I never really understood his first law due to that question.