Newtons Laws

Physics Lab Report

1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND INFORMATION

The motion of an aircraft through the air can be explained and

described by physical principals discovered over 300 years ago by Sir
Isaac Newton. Newton worked in many areas of mathematics and
physics. He developed the theories of gravitation in 1666, when he was
only 23 years old. Some twenty years later, in 1686, he presented his
three laws of motion in the "Principia Mathematica Philosophiae
Naturalis." The laws are shown above, and the application of these
laws to aerodynamics are given on separate slides. Newton's first law
states that every object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a
straight line unless compelled to change its state by the action of an
external force. This is normally taken as the definition of inertia. The
key point here is that if there is no net force acting on an object (if all
the external forces cancel each other out) then the object will maintain
a constant velocity. If that velocity is zero, then the object remains at
rest. If an external force is applied, the velocity will change because of
the force.
The second law explains how the velocity of an object changes when it
is subjected to an external force. The law defines a force to be equal to
change in momentum (mass times velocity) per change in time.
Newton also developed the calculus of mathematics, and the
"changes" expressed in the second law are most accurately defined in
differential forms. (Calculus can also be used to determine the velocity
and location variations experienced by an object subjected to an
external force). For an object with a constant mass m, the second law
states that the force F is the product of an object's mass and its
acceleration a: F = m * a For an external applied force, the change in
velocity depends on the mass of the object. A force will cause a change
in velocity; and likewise, a change in velocity will generate a force. The
equation works both ways. The third law states that for every action
(force) in nature there is an equal and opposite reaction. In other

words, if object A exerts a force on object B, then object B also exerts

an equal force on object A. Notice that the forces are exerted on
different objects. The third law can be used to explain the generation
of lift by a wing and the production of thrust by a jet engine.
1.2 AIM / RESEARCH QUESTION
1.2.1 AIM
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
To prove that an object will

remain in his state unless theres an

external force acting towards the object.

NEWTONS SECOND LAW
To prove that objects with bigger mass have bigger force and
acceleration.
NEWTONS THIRD LAW
To prove that the two objects with different masses and different
acceleration will get different reactions with the wall.
1.2.2 RESEARCH QUESTION
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
Why is the person in the car moves in the opposite direction from the
car?
It can be stated as our research question is because we conduct the
experiment using a mini figure which will be in the car as the first
object. We want to know how will the mini figure react that also
describes our self in our daily life since the first law has the word
LAZY which means that we are going to the same way as we go.

NEWTONS SECOND LAW

Does object with bigger mass have bigger force and bigger
acceleration?
Since the second law stated that acceleration is produced when a force
acts on a mass. Which we are going to conduct the experiment by
using 2 cars with different mass and we are going to see the reaction
from both object if they are going to go down straight using the
inclined plane.
NEWTONS THIRD LAW
What is the relationship with the mass and the acceleration of the
objects and the reaction from the wall?
This question means that how will the cars will react towards the wall
when they also has different mass. Because whenever an object
pushes another object it gets pushed back in the opposite direction
equally hard. Since there is a reaction force that is in equal in size, but
opposite in direction.
1.3 HYPOTHESIS
Newtons First Law: The figure that we put inside the car will move
forward when the car stops
Newtons Second Law: When the car goes down, the bigger mass of
the car will be more faster than the smaller mass.
Newtons Third Law: The smaller mass of the car will bump further
than the heavy one.

1.4 VARIABLES
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
Independent: Truck toy
Dependent: Small dolls
No.
1

Controlled Variable
Length of the string

Why do I control?
Because longer string will

How do I control?
By measuring and

slow down the car, and

keeping the string

shorter string will

as 10 cm long.

accelerate the car.

Because if we change the

By keeping one

truck to a heavier truck

truck toy as the

toy, it will change the

media for the

timing when the object

object.

Length of the small

falls.
By changing the length of

By keeping the

dolls

the dolls to a smaller doll,

doll with the same

the smaller doll might not

doll throughout

react by not moving its

the experiment.

Mass of the truck toy

body with the force

extended when the truck
moves.

NEWTONS SECOND LAW

Independent: The mass of the cars

Dependent: The force of the cars
No.

Controlled

Why do I control?

How do I

Variable
Length of the

If one car was travelling

control?
By measuring

road

a longer distance than

the distance

the other, that car would

between the

take more time to reach

initial and the

its final position.

final position as

Length of the

Because longer string

20 cm.
By measuring

string

will slow down the car,

and keeping

and shorter string will

the string as 10

accelerate the car.

The width of both cars

cm long.
By applying the

have to be equal since if

same cars and

one cars width is longer,

adding some

the longer car will travel

weight on top

a certain distance faster

of the car.

Width of the cars

than the shorter car.

NEWTONS THIRD LAW

Independent: The mass and the acceleration of the cars
Dependent: The distance when the car bounces back

No.

Controlled

Why do I control?

How do I

Variable
Length of the

If one car was travelling

control?
By measuring

road to the wall

a longer distance than

the length of

the other, that car would

the car to the

take more time to reach

radius with a

The force

its final position.

Because different forces

ruler by 20 cm.
By making the

extended on the

extended could be

same person

cars

resulting a different

push with

speed or acceleration.

similar energy
throughout the
whole

Material of the

If we crash different cars

experiment.
By crashing

wall

with different walls, the

both cars to

force might be different

the same

as different walls could

points

have different
measurements or
different foundation.

2.

PROCEDURE
2.1 MATERIALS
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
1. Car (1)
2. Mini figure (1)
3. Inclined plane (1)
NEWTONS SECOND LAW

1.
2.
3.
4.

Cars (2) with different mass

Inclined Plane (1)
Sensor Motion
Stop Watch (1)

NEWTONS THIRD LAW

1. Cars (2) with different mass
2. Inclined Plane (1)
3. 30 cm Ruler (1)

2.2 DIAGRAMS/PHOTOGRAPHS
NEWTONS FIRST LAW

NEWTONS SECOND
LAW

NEWTONS THIRD LAW

18.5 cm

10 cm

2.3 METHOD
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
1. Place the mini figure onto the cars passenger seat

2. Pull the car backwards and release

3. Record the observation
NEWTONS SECOND LAW
1. Set up the inclined plane and place the sensor motion at the
back of the inclined plane
2. Place the car right in front of the sensor motion and release
3. Record your observation
4. Apply the same procedure to another car
NEWTONS THIRD LAW
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

3.

Set the inclined plane vertically

Place the ruler on the side of the plane
Pull and release the car
Measure and record the distance
Repeat the same procedure to another car

RESULTS
3.1 RAW DATA
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
No raw data since no calculation or measurement is involved.
NEWTONS SECOND LAW

Green car (smaller): 1 m/s2

Blue car (Bigger): 1.5 m/s2

NEWTONS THIRD LAW

Green car (when it bounces back): 18.5 cm
Blue car (when it bounces back): 10 cm
3.2 PROCESSED DATA AND ANALYSIS
NEWTONS FIRST LAW
When the car is in contact with the wall, an unbalanced force acts upon
the car to abruptly decelerate it to rest. Any passengers in the car will
also be decelerated to rest if they are strapped to the car by seat belts.
Being strapped tightly to the car, the passengers share the same state
of motion as the car. As the car accelerates, the passengers accelerate
with it; as the car decelerates, the passengers decelerate with it; and
as the car maintains a constant speed, the passengers maintain a
constant speed as well. The figure inside the car is not ready to stop
when the car is stopping, hes still going to the direction where the car
is going. He is trying to set himself in his previous fixed position.
NEWTONS SECOND LAW
Newtons second law stated that F = ma.
The lighter object should have bigger acceleration, and the heavier
object should have smaller acceleration. However, when it comes to
objects traveling down an inclined plane, mass should not affect the
acceleration of the two objects.

Green car: 34.2 gr

Blue car: 38.1 gr

Green Car

Blue Car

F = ma

F = ma

Wsin = m. a
(34.2) g sin = (34.2) a
g sin = a

Wsin = m. a
(38.1) g sin = (38.1) a
g sin = a

NEWTONS THIRD LAW

Newtons third law states that for every action (force) in nature there is
an equal and opposite reaction. We stated that the lighter the object
have smaller forces and the bigger mass of an object supposed to have
bigger forces. When a different mass of a car is in contact with the
wall, the car that has bigger mass bumps quite far from the wall, while
the smaller mass doesnt bump as far as the bigger mass which is
affected by the force and the weight that they have. However, the
push on the force is also one of the biggest factors in the experiment.

4.

DISCUSSION
4.1 CONCLUSION
The laws that was made by Isaac Newton has different opinions
towards the action of an object, which Newton's first law states that
every object will remain at rest unless compelled to change its state by
the action of an external force, in other words, the object do what it is
doing. The second law explains how the velocity of an object changes
when it is subjected to an external force. The law defines a force to be
equal to change in momentum (mass times velocity) per change in
time. While the third law states that for every action in nature there is
an equal and opposite reaction. The conclusion that we can get from
this experiment is Newton were trying to explain us that everything

that we do has the force in it. As we conduct the experiment, we

observe that force is also affected by the acceleration, velocity and the
weight of its object from each of the laws. The experiment that we
conducted is also apply to our daily life since we use cars and a mini
figure to do the experiment which also prove that the laws are right.
4.2 EVALUATION
As a group, we think that we need more communication to each group
members and be more productive as a whole. Because when we
started the experiment, we dont have one of the materials that we
need that were really important because we use it as the object of our
experiment, toy cars which made us used a phone instead of the toy
car. We need cars as the object of our experiment for all of the
Newtons Law, because we think that was the easiest experiment that
we can do, and its valuable enough. Aside from that, we didnt really
know how to use the sensor motion whereas we need the sensor
motion to count the acceleration of the car moves. Also, we didnt
know if the sensor motion has the software itself. Lastly, we are
supposed to have the same shape of the cars with the different mass
in the third law instead of having a truck toy car and the other one a
sport car, because different shape and mass will effect to each cars in
the reaction also the acceleration. Many errors that we did in the
experiment, but at least we finally found the solution to solve it.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY
A Rolling Object Accelerating Down an Incline. (n.d.). Retrieved May 24,
2015, from http://www.wired.com/2014/07/a-rolling-objectaccelerating-down-an-incline/
Newton's Law of Inertia - The Car and The Wall. (n.d.). Retrieved May
24, 2015, from
http://www.physicsclassroom.com/mmedia/newtlaws/cci.cfm
N.p., n.d., Second law of motion. Retrieved May 24, 2015 from
http://teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/louviere/Newton/law2.html