Isaac Newton Ruba

The Three Laws of Motion: Isaac Newton's Greatest Contribution

To the World of Science

Isaac Newton is a renowned mathematician, scientist, inventor, professor, and public official who influenced the world of science with his extraordinary and brilliant theories on different phenomena in (primarily) the study of physics, astronomy, and optics. Born on the 4th of January, 1643, Isaac Newton's life as a young man in Woolsthorpe, Lincolnshire in England is unremarkable, and Newton, at a young age, did not show and possess the brilliant mind that he has while attending a formal school education at the Free Grammar School in Grantham (O'Connor and Robertson 2000). As a child, Newton did not seem to possess the intellectual strength that he was known for, and had a hard time living with his family during his childhood years because of the constant tension between him and his stepfather and mother.

Newton's mother encouraged him to engage himself in the real estate business, but when he displayed no interest in his mother's business, he again returned t his schooling in the Free Grammar School in Grantham. Newton later developed his skills in mathematics when he was in his early adult years as a student of Trinity College Cambridge. In 1687, Newton's "Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica" or Principia was published, and in it contained the famous and most renowned of Newton's theories and discoveries, which is the Three Laws of Motion. This important discovery had influenced not only the study of mathematics, but also in the realm of physics and its application as well.

The Three Laws of Motion is an important concept in the study of mathematics and physics because it does not only provide empirical explanation ad evidence of the causes and reasons for the motion of objects, it also provides an adequate explanation why unexplainable phenomena (during...

Above all, Newton's Laws of Motions explains fully the nature and being of any existing object, and the elements that influence this object in its behavior and action.
The First Law of Motion is stated as follows: "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force" (Physics Classroom 2003). The first law is also called the Law of Inertia, and explains the concept of inertia, which is an object at rest. The first law explains that, in properly defining inertia, "the tendency of an object to persist in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line is called inertia" (Navaza 1996 110). Theoretically, the first law of motion is just a restatement of Galileo Galilei's analysis about the nature and behavior of motion.

The first law of motion is significant to the study of the physics of motion in terms of the behavior of the motion of objects when there is an occurrence of inertia, or the stopping of a motion. For example, the first law helps explain the behavior of the motion of an individual who suddenly moves forward inside a vehicle when the vehicle suddenly stops. Due to the first law of motion, people can now explain this behavior, that is, why do people lurch forward when there is a sudden 'stoppage' of motion, which is, of course, attributed to inertia and Newton's first law of motion.

The Second Law of Motion is the Law of Acceleration, which states that: "Acceleration is of body is directly proportional and is in the same direction as the net force applied to it and is inversely proportional to the mass of the body." The second law can be mathematically expressed as: F= ma, with F=force of an object, m=mass of the object, and a=acceleration. This law illustrates the empirical and mathematical basis of Newton's…