Newton's laws of motion consist of three physical laws that describe the relationship between the motion of an object and the forces acting upon it. They are fundamental to Newtonian mechanics: - First Law (Law of Inertia): A body at rest remains at rest and a body in motion continues in motion with a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force. This law emphasizes the idea of inertia, stating that no inertial observer can claim an absolute standard of motion.
- Second Law (Law of Acceleration): The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. This law can be expressed mathematically as \( F = ma \), where \( F \) is the net force, \( m \) is the mass, and \( a \) is the acceleration.
- Third Law (Action and Reaction): For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. This means that forces between two objects are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction; if one object exerts a force on another, the second object exerts an equal force in the opposite direction on the first object. These laws were first formulated by Isaac Newton in his work "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica" published in 1687 and have been foundational to the field of classical mechanics.[1][2][3][4]