What are some examples of Newton's three laws of motion?

2nd law: "F = ma; acceleration is proportional to force and inversely proportional to the mass of the accelerated object ." You are pushing a box across a frictionless surface, if you want to speed up the box faster (increase in acceleration), you push harder (increase in force). If the box was replaced with a heavier box (increase in mass), you have to push harder (increase in force) to speed it up at the same rate as before.

3rd law: "For every action there is a equal and opposite reaction." Perhaps the most misconceived law by the public, this law does not mean if the earth pulls you down by the virtue of its mass, it also "hold" you up.

This law means the force that is applied has an equal and opposite counterpart. For instance, if you apply a force to a object, the object applies the same force on you. Therefore, the earth applies a gravitational force on you, and you apply an equal and opposite force on the earth! This force is not noticed due to the second law, the earth is approximately 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 (10^22) times more massive than any of us but the force is still there.

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First answer by Rosencrantz. Last edit by Ben6523. Contributor trust: 83 [recommend contributor]. Question popularity: 28 [recommend question]