Ewuradjoa Amoah

AP Physics 1
Current Event 2
3 January, 2016
Origins of Newtons First Law
ARTICLE CITATION-

Hecht, Eugene. "Origins of Newton's First Law." Origins of

Newton's First Law 53.2 (2015): n. pag. Origins of Newton's First Law. American
Association of Physics Teachers, 2015. Web. 03 Jan. 2016.
<http://scitation.aip.org/content/aapt/journal/tpt/53/2/10.1119/1.4905802>.
SUMMARYWhen first starting their physics education, many students believe that
objects moving always eventually come a rest. However that is not the case. The first law of
motion was Aristotle, the Philosopher. Aristotle, and many Christians of the time, believed that a
fifth celestial element called aether drew all objects towards the centre of the Earth, and that
was the default position of objects and anything else was unnatural. later though, the Muslim
scholar Abu Ali ibn Sina figured the first fundamental idea of Newton's first law, Nothing
begins to move or come to a rest by itself. Then, Galileo conducted an experiment which proved
this true, it showed that a ball rolling down a slope only came to an eventual stop due to friction.
And Renee Descartes also conjures up a theory similar to Abu Sina and Galileo, he agrees that
nothing moves to comes to a rest by itself, and that it is a natural law. However there was still a
flaw in their theory, they believed that rest and motion were to contrary states. which they are
not. All this historical trial and error lead to the creation of Newtons first law.
REFLECTIONThis article relates to the topic of Newtons Laws because it explains how
the conception of Newtons laws came to be and the trial and error earlier philosophers had to go
through in order for Newton to eventually create his three laws. I found this article interesting
because I had never really thought of how the laws we learned about ever came to exist. I just
accepted that they were true and didnt question why or how.
ADDITIONAL SOURCESDouglas, Giancoli C. "Dynamics: Newtons Laws of
Motion" Physics. Boston, MA: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2005. Print.
Newtons three laws of motion are the basic classical laws describing motion (Giancoli 96).
Newtons Laws, once again, have opened the path to more scientific and physics work. The laws
are very important and help to understand how forces like gravity and friction interrelate and
work together to control the motion of an object.
Lucas, By Jim. "Newton's Laws of Motion." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 26 June 2014.
Web. 03 Jan. 2016. <http://www.livescience.com/46558-laws-of-motion.html>.

Ewuradjoa Amoah
AP Physics 1
Current Event 2
3 January, 2016
The three laws have been verified by countless experiments over the past three centuries, and
they are still being widely used to this day to describe the kinds of objects and speeds that we
encounter in everyday life. They form the foundation of what is now known as classical
mechanics, which is the study of massive objects that are larger than the very small scales
addressed by quantum mechanics and that are moving slower than the very high speeds
addressed by relativistic mechanics. (Lucas). As restated, theres been a lot of work put into
creation of Newtons laws and these laws have laid the basis for many branches of physics and
science.
Lucas, By Jim. "Newton's Laws of Motion." LiveScience. TechMedia Network, 26 June 2014.
Web. 03 Jan. 2016. <http://www.livescience.com/46558-laws-of-motion.html>.