Learning about motion will help you do cool things like carve better turns on your snowboard, shoot a better shot in basketball, and maybe even fly to the moon!
Law 1: Inertia
Objects in motion – or at rest – stay that way unless acted on by an outside force.
What does that mean? If something is moving, it will continue to move, and if its not moving, it will continue to stay at rest unless something else forces it to move. There is a natural tendency for objects to keep doing what they’re doing and resist changes to their current state. Let’s say you are laying on the couch watching TV, you’re not likely to move unless something, like a bulldozer or your mom – all outside forces – make you move. The same holds true if you’re coasting on your skateboard and you hit a rock, you will keep moving off the skateboard down towards the pavement (so make sure you’re wearing a helmet).
Law 2: Force equals Mass times Acceleration, F = ma!
Acceleration is produced when a force (F) acts on a mass (m). The greater the mass of the object being accelerated (a), the greater the amount of force is needed.
This law is how we got our name — FMA Live! It stands for force (F) equals mass (m) times acceleration (a), F = ma. Think of it as the more mass you have , the more force you need to accelerate.
Here’s an example. When a massive football player stands still, he doesn’t exhibit much force. He may look intimidating because he’s huge, but he’s not moving so there is no acceleration. Now imagine the same football player running at you at full speed. That’s a force you probably don’t want to reckon with and we suggest you run the other way – and fast!
Law 3: For every action there is an equal and opposite re-action.
Do you ever wonder why your feet get tired when you stand in line for a long time? Because your feet are pushing down on the ground, and the ground is pushing against the bottom of your feet. Here’s another example, a rocket pushes down on the ground with the force of its engines (that’s the action), the ground pushes the rocket up (the reaction) with an equal amount of force. The result? Liftoff!
