Isaac Newton ShyAnn Roberts-Daniel Physics 1010

Isaac Newton Isaac Newton is arguably one of the most influential scientists in history. (Jessa, 2009) He may have not been the most academically fit person at first but after being sent home from Cambridge University, due to the plague, he showed excellence. Newton was sent to Cambridge on behalf of his Uncles doing. His Uncle noticed that Newton did not really have any interest in his Mothers farm, convincing Newtons Mother to send him away to a school. With going to school Newton was able gain interest in many subjects such as gravity, motion and optics. Newton was born in Linchshire, England in the 1600s. Newtons father passed away when he was very young. Newtons mother soon married again, leaving him with his grandparents and her farm. Newton was sent to a school to start his education but was pulled out to help attended to his Mothers farm. Newton did not show any interest in these tasks. Newtons uncle talked to his mother and convinced her to send him to the University to develop some skills. After a few years attending the University it was closed down due to the plague. Newton was sent home back to the farm. After a few years at home Newtons interest started to peak. He questioned one of Aristotles statements of gravity.

Aristotle knew there was gravity. He thought that it pulled on objects in different ways, heavier objects fell faster to ground then a lighter object. But, while Newton was enjoying his time under a tree, it is said to be that an apple hit him on the head. Which brought the thought of Aristotles statement, gravity. He then elaborated on this and found that objects do fall to the ground at the same rate. The cause of different objects hitting the ground at different rates was due to the objects mass and air resistance. A rock would hit the ground before a feather because the rock has more mass and less air resistance. Whereas the feather has less mass and the air resistance is a lot more. Also, Newtons novel idea of 1666 was to imagine that the Earths gravity influenced the Moon, (O'Connor, 2000) As each object fell, Newton realized that motion played a major part in all things. Newton realized that motion played such a role in all objects that he was able to create the Three Laws of Motion. The first is quiet simple: an object that tends to stay in rest will continue to stay in rest, as for an object that is in motion will continue in motion as long as its traveling in a straight line. The second law is acceleration is directly proportional to the net force and mass of a given object. Meaning, an object will travel in a given direction as long as an applied force is following that path. The third Law of Motion is for every action there is an equal

and opposite reaction. For anything that pushes on an object that object is pushing back on that anything. For example, when someone pushes their hand on a wall, the wall is pushing back on the persons hand. These Laws are still used in Physics and life today. People know Newton by these Laws but he also had smaller projects he worked on. Optics were another big thing in Newtons life. All though it took Newton time to publish any of his books one that focused on optics was called Opticks. The publication of Opticks, largely written by 1692, was delayed by Newton until the critics were dead. (Hall, 1998) Newtons optics research focused on the fractioning of white light. He discovered that when the light went through a prism it broke into a rainbow of colors. In conclusion, Newton did a lot of things in his life time. He went through his challenges but rose to the top. He excelled in many things but a few things that he majored in was gravity, Laws of Motion and optics. Newton figured all things were affected by gravity and the way that everything fell to the ground at the same rate, but mass and air resistance played apart; Leading Newton to make the three Laws of Motion. Where the first states that objects either stay in rest or continue in motion, the second is about applying acceleration. The last one is for

everything that is pushing on something that something is pushing back. Lastly, optics is how light is broken down into a rainbow when sent through a prism.

Works Cited
Hall, A. R. (1998). Isaac Newton Institute for Mathematical Sciences. Retrieved from Isaac Newton's Life: http://www.newton.ac.uk/newtlife.html Jessa, T. (2009, September 5). What did Isaac Newton Discover? Retrieved from Universetoday: http://www.universetoday.com/38643/what-did-isaac-newton-discover/ O'Connor, J. a. (2000, Januray ). Retrieved from Sir Isaac Newton: http://www-groups.dcs.stand.ac.uk/~history/Printonly/Newton.html