Newton's Laws - Mission NL1 Detailed Help


Suppose that an astronaut throws a rock in outer space at a location far from significant influences of gravity and air resistance. One would expect that the rock would ...



 
Newton's First Law of Motion:
An object at rest will tend to stay at rest; an object in motion will tend to stay in motion with the same speed and direction, unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.


 
Many beginning students of Physics believe that forces cause objects to move or to keep on moving. But don't be fooled! Forces do not cause objects to move, but rather to change the way they move. Forces, when unbalanced, cause accelerations - changes in the velocity of the object. An object in motion does not need a forward force to sustain its motion. A forward force would only be needed to balance a resistive force in order to maintain a state of motion. In the absence of resistive forces, an object in motion would stay in motion with the same speed and direction.