Physical Science

The Earth in the Universe

Topics under this module

 Aristotelian Mechanics
 Diurnal Motion, Annual Motion, and Precession of the Equinoxes
 How the Greeks Knew That the Earth Is Spherical
 How Plato's Problem of "Saving the Appearances" Constrained Greek Models of the Universe
 The Models of the Universe: Eudoxus, Aristotle, Aristarchus, Ptolemy, and Copernicus
 Astronomical Phenomena Known to Astronomers before the Advent of Telescopes
 Models of Astronomical Phenomena: Copernican, Ptolemaic and Tychonic
 Galileo's Astronomical Discoveries
 Johannes Kepler's Discoveries from Tycho Brahe's Collection of Astronomical Data
 Kepler's Third Law of Planetary Motion

Universal Laws in Physics

Topics under this module

 Aristotelian Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion

 Galilean Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion
 How Galileo Inferred That Objects in Vacuum Fall with Uniform Acceleration
 The Position vs. Time and Velocity vs. Time Graphs of Constant Velocity Motion
 Acceleration in Physics
 The Three Laws of Motion
 Newton’s Law of Inertia vs. Galileo’s Assertion on Horizontal Motion
 Newton’s Second Law of Motion and Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation: Identical Acceleration
 Newton’s Law and Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion
 The Law of Conservation of Momentum
 Mass, Momentum, and Energy Conservation

Light: A Wave and a Particle

Topics under this module

 Reflection, Refraction, Transmission, and Absorption of Light

 The Emergence of Light: Newton and Descartes
 Waves
 Dual Nature of Light
 The Photon Theory
 The Relationship Between the Speed of Light, Wavelength, and Frequency
 Electrons Can Behave Like Waves
 Dispersion, Scattering, Interference, and Diffraction of Light
 Light Phenomena I
 Light Phenomena II
 Electricity and Magnetism: Franklin, Coulomb, Oersted, Ampere, Biot-Savart, Faraday, and Maxwell
 How Hertz Produced Radio Pulses

The Physics in Cosmos

Topics under this module

 Theory of Special Relativity

 How the Speeds and Distances of Far-Off Objects are Estimated
 An Expanding Universe
 Pluto was Once Thought to Be a Planet
 How Doppler Shifts and Transits Can Be Used to Detect Extrasolar Planets
Aristotelian Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion

Aristotle is one of most influential Greek philosophers whose ideas were the basis for many concepts that time.

How did he view and explain the motion of objects?

Aristotle’s view on motion was based on his observations, which made his ideas acceptable and stood for many years.

Motion is an object’s change in position with respect to time. According to Aristotle, motion can either be a natural motion or a violent motion.

Natural Motion

An object will move and will eventually return to its natural state depending on the composition that the object is made of. An object made of
material similar to earth will return to earth or an object that is similar to air will return to the air. For example, a ball mostly resembles the earth
so when it is thrown upward its natural tendency is to go back to Earth, its natural state or the smoke mostly resembles the air so its natural
tendency is to go up the atmosphere.

Violent motion

An object will move if an external force such as pushing or pulling is applied to it. No motion will take place unless there is a 'mover' in contact
with an object.

Aristotle’s View on Projectile Motion

Aristotle believed that the motion of an object is parallel to the ground until it is the object's time to fall back into the ground. An impetus will be
kept by the object until such time that the initial force is forgotten, and the object returns to its natural state to stop moving and fall to the
ground.
Example
A cannon is fired which give the cannonball an impetus that will dictate its course until such time that the impetus is forgotten, and the
cannonball will naturally fall to the ground.
What do you think? What ideas challenged the Aristotelian principle of motion?
Key Points

 According to Aristotle, motion can either be a natural motion or a violent motion.

 An object will move and will eventually return to its natural state depending on the composition that the object is made of. This
referred as the natural motion of an object.
 An object will move if an external force such as pushing or pulling is applied to it. This is referred as the violent motion of an object.
 The motion of an object is parallel to the ground until it is the object's time to fall back into the ground. This is referred as
the projectile motion of an object.

Galilean Conceptions: Vertical Motion, Horizontal Motion, and Projectile Motion

Why do objects move?

Scientists and philosophers alike have been trying to answer this question even before 300 B.C. One of the well-known philosophers who
attempted to do this was Aristotle. His attempt was based on inductive-deductive reasoning and was accepted for centuries.

However, Galileo Galilei challenged the Aristotelian view of motion when he had his actual and thorough experiments. He disagreed with most
of Aristotle’s claims and provided his own description of motion.

Galilean Conceptions vs. Aristotelian Conceptions

According to Aristotle, motion can be either natural or violent motion. In a natural motion, the object will move and will return to its natural state
based on the object's material or composition. In contrast, an object moving in a violent motion requires an external force (push or pull) for the
object to move.

He also had his view on the projectile motion of an object. He believed that an object thrown at a certain angle is given an impetus—a force
or energy that permits an object to move. It will continue to move in such state until the object’s impetus is lost, and the object returns to its
natural state, causing it to stop and fall to the ground.

Galileo disproved Aristotle’s claims and believed that the motion of objects is not simply due to the composition of objects. He mentioned that
motion can be described by mathematics and the changes in some physical variables such as time and distance. Using his actual and thorough
experiments, he was able to prove that:

1. an object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is proportional to the time it will take to travel;
2. a uniformly accelerating object will travel at a speed proportional to some factor of time; and
3. an object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion; an external force is not necessary to maintain the motion.

Galileo's Conceptions of Motion

Horizontal motion
An object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to be in motion, and an external force is not necessary to maintain the motion. If the Earth’s
surface is very flat and extended infinitely, objects that are pushed will not be impeded. Thus, the objects will continue to move. This kind of
motion, however, is not evident in nature. For example, if a ball is pushed on an infinitely flat plane, the ball will continue to roll if unimpeded.
Vertical motion
In the absence of a resistance, objects would fall not depending on their weight, but in the time of fall. Also, if the object encountered a resistive
force from a fluid equal or greater than its weight, it will slow down and reaches a uniform motion until it reaches the bottom and stops. For
example, without any resistance, a 1-kg object will be as fast as a 10-kg object when falling because they fall with the same amount of time,
given that they are released from the same height. Also, a stone dropped in the ocean will sooner or later travel at constant speed.

Projectile motion
Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of uniform motion in the horizontal direction and uniformly accelerated motion in the vertical
direction. If it is not impeded, it will continue to move even without an applied force. For example, when you shoot a ball in a basketball ring, the
ball does not need a force to keep it moving.

Explore!
In a vacuum chamber, a 1-kg object and 10-kg object was dropped at a certain height and at the same time. Which of the following objects will
reach the ground first?
Try it!
Who has a more acceptable view of falling objects, Aristotle or Galileo? Try to test it in the following activities below. Take note that in every
activity, both objects should be dropped at the same time and at the same height.

1. Drop a book and a flat sheet of paper coming.

2. Drop a book and a sheet of paper crumbled to a ball.
3. Drop a book with a small flat sheet of paper on top of it.
In all three cases, which object reach the ground first? Whose view is more acceptable then, and why?
Key Points
 Galileo believed that an object in uniform motion will travel a distance that is proportional to the time it took to travel; a uniformly
accelerating object will travel with a speed proportional to some factor of time; and an object in motion, if unimpeded, will continue to
be in motion; an external force is not necessary to maintain the motion.
 Galileo believed that a projectile is a combination of uniform motion in the horizontal direction and uniformly accelerated motion in the
vertical direction.

How Galileo Inferred That Objects in Vacuum Fall with Uniform Acceleration

Recall that a body moving with uniform acceleration changes its speed by a constant value per unit of time.
Imagine yourself holding a bowling ball and a ping pong ball. If you drop these balls simultaneously, which ball do you think would
have greater acceleration upon reaching the ground? Why?

Galileo proved with his experiments that when objects are dropped simultaneously, they will reach the ground at the same time regardless of
their masses and air resistance. In another set of experiments, he discovered that objects fall with uniform acceleration.

Galileo was fascinated by the behavior of falling objects. He knew that falling objects increase their speed as they go down. This change in
speed is acceleration. However, he did not have any equipment to measure this change, so he used inclined planes to lessen the acceleration
of the moving bodies. He was then able to investigate the moving bodies carefully.

On his experiment, he had observed the following:

 A ball rolling down an inclined plane increases its speed by the same value after every second. For example, the speed of a rolling
ball was found to increase by 2 m/s every second. This means that the rolling ball would have the following speeds for every given
second

 As the inclined plane becomes steeper, the acceleration of the rolling ball increases.
 The maximum acceleration of the rolling ball was reached when the inclined plane was positioned vertically as if the ball is simply
falling

These observations lead Galileo to conclude that regardless of the mass of objects and air resistance, falling objects would always have
uniform acceleration.
Example
Hold a book and a piece of paper at the same height, then drop them simultaneously. Did the objects reach the ground at the same time? If no,
which object reached the ground first?
Now, perform the same procedure, but this time, crumple the paper. Did the objects reach the ground at the same time? If no, which object
reached the ground first?

This experiment agrees with Galileo’s findings that when there is little or no air resistance, objects that are dropped simultaneously will reach
the ground at the same time, regardless of their masses. Given that both objects (paper and book) reached the ground simultaneously, we can
infer that the increase in speed of each object is equal. Therefore, falling objects have the same acceleration when there is no air resistance
(e.g. vacuum).

Recall the question at the start of this lesson regarding the bowling and ping pong balls. When these balls are thrown from the same height and
in a vacuum, they will fall at the same acceleration regardless of their masses.

Explore
Given two one peso coins, released at the same time, Coin A is dropped while Coin B is thrown horizontally coming from the same height.
Which one do you think would reach the ground first?
Try it! If an object falls with an acceleration of 5 m/s2 what would be its speed after 3 s given its starts at 0 m/s at 0s?
What do you think? If a speedometer is attached to a falling object and the reading increases by 10 m/s every second, what is the
object’s acceleration?
Key Points

 A body with uniform acceleration changes its speed by a constant value.

 Galileo proved that when objects are released simultaneously from a certain height, they reach the ground at the same time,
regardless of their masses and air resistance.
 Galileo discovered that all objects fall with the uniform acceleration in vacuum.

The Position vs. Time and Velocity vs. Time Graphs of Constant Velocity Motion
Recall the following terms of the basic quantities that describe motion.

 Distance is the total length or ground covered by an object.

 Displacement is the change in the position of an object or the shortest distance between the initial and the final position of an object .
 Speed is how fast the object is moving and can be calculated by dividing the total distance by the total time spent to cover that
distance.
 Velocity is how fast and where the object is moving and can be calculated by dividing the displacement of an object to the time spent.
 Acceleration is the change in the velocity of an object per unit time. An object accelerates when there is a change in the object’s
speed, direction, or both speed and direction.

An object is said to be in motion when its position changes relative to a reference point, usually the ground. The
motion of an object can be described in different ways; it can be described using distance, displacement, speed,
velocity, and acceleration.

Motion can also be presented graphically like the position vs. time and velocity vs. time graphs which show the type
of motion an object undergoes in a unit of time.

Position vs. Time Graph of Constant Velocity

A position vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity in a straight path will look like the graph below.
Try it! Draw the position vs. time and velocity vs. time graph of the following scenario:
You walk 3 m to the kitchen at a velocity of 1 m/s, pause by the sink for 2 s, and walk back to the living room at 1 m/s.
Key Points

 The position vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity is a straight line that slants to the right and has a constant slope
that corresponds to the body’s constant velocity.
 The velocity vs. time graph of a body moving with constant velocity is a flat line and has a zero slope which means the body is not
accelerating.
 The velocity vs. time graph of a body moving with constant acceleration is a straight line slanting to the right and has a constant
value for its slope which corresponds to the body’s constant acceleration.
Acceleration in Physics
When does an object accelerate? Does the term only refer to fast-moving objects?
Acceleration in everyday usage
In everyday terms, acceleration refers to objects which are moving so fast. This is demonstrated in a speeding race car or a runner who
accelerates to finish a short sprint. On the other hand, a race car that suddenly slows down or a runner who accidentally stumbles is not
accelerating.
Acceleration in physics
In physics, an object that moves fast may not be accelerating. Also, an object that moves slowly may be accelerating.
Acceleration is the rate at which an object’s velocity changes. Velocity is the rate at which an object changes position. Acceleration indicates
how fast an object changes its velocity. Just like velocity, it is a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and
direction. Magnitude refers to the amount or size of a quantity. For example, 3 m/s.
An object accelerates when its velocity changes in magnitude, direction, or both magnitude and direction.
Example
The car in the following situations is accelerating.

A. When the traffic light turned green, the car sped up from 0 km/hr to 20 km/hr.

B. When the driver saw the pedestrian, the car slowed down from 20 km/hr to 0.

C. The driver turned the car to the right while maintaining his speed of 40 km/hr.

In situation A, the car is accelerating because the magnitude of the car’s velocity changed. It increased from 0 km/hr to 20 km/hr.

In situation B, where the car decreased its velocity from 20 km/hr to 0 is accelerating because there is a change in the magnitude of its
velocity. It accelerates even if it went slower and eventually stopped.

An object which maintains a constant magnitude of velocity but changes direction is accelerating. This can be seen in situation C where the
driver was initially going 40 km/hr forward and turned 40 km/hr to the right. The car accelerates because there is a change in its velocity’s
direction.

An object that goes from 40 km/hr eastward to 20 km/hr southward accelerates because there is a change in its velocity’s magnitude and
direction.

Objects that move in uniform circular motion have constant speeds but still accelerate because they constantly change in direction as they go
around the circular path.
Satellites orbiting the Earth maintain a nearly circular orbit and travel very fast at an almost constant speed like the International Space Station
which moves at approximately 27 000 km/hr. Even though these satellites have constant speeds, they are accelerating because they constantly
change direction as they move in a circular path around the Earth.
Try it! Conduct a survey to at least 20 persons about how they perceive acceleration. How many persons have misconceptions on
what acceleration is?

What do you think? How is an object’s acceleration related to its mass and the force applied to it?
Key Points

 In everyday usage, acceleration refers to fast moving objects such as a speeding race car.
 In physics, acceleration is the rate of change in an object’s velocity.
 An object accelerates when there is a change in its velocity – which means there could either be a change in its magnitude, direction,
or both magnitude and direction.

The Three Laws of Motion

The systematical study of motion started way back from the ancient civilizations when they started observing and predicting the motion of stars,
planets, and other celestial bodies. Aristotle stated that motion can be classified as ‘natural’ and ‘violent’ motion.
Natural motion can be observed in nature, such as falling of leaves while violent motion is one that is unnatural and instigated by other
factors. For example, it is natural for a rock to roll down the hill, but in order for the rock to move up the hill, someone or something must push it
upward.

After a couple of millennia, several more scientific studies about motion has been made.

Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 published his book entitled Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (The Mathematical Principles of Natural
Philosophy) which contains his treatise on motion and the three laws of motion.

The laws of motion are useful ways of thinking about the motion of everyday objects. Though considered as a scientific law, it still has
limitations.

The laws of motion are valid when the objects we are analyzing are not travelling at the speed of light nor the object is too small.

Inertia
Inertia is the existing state of matter, whether at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless a net external force is applied to change its
state. It is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion.
1st Law: The Law of Inertia
An object at rest or in motion will stay at rest or in motion with constant velocity unless acted upon by a net external force.
According to this law, an object at rest will remain at rest unless you push or pull them with enough net force.
For instance, when a book is at rest on the table several forces act on it: the downward force exerted by gravity and the upward or normal
force exerted by the table on the book. When we say net force, the sum of all the forces acting on the object is equal to zero thus, it is at rest or
there is no change in its speed. In the case of the book, the downward and normal force are of the same magnitude but opposite in direction
that is why they add up to zero.
The same is true for objects that are moving. If no net force acts on a moving object, then it will neither increase nor decrease its speed.
Therefore, it will continue to move with constant speed in a straight line.
For instance, why do we move forward when the driver steps on the brakes after moving at a constant speed in a straight line? When the car
moves, our body moves with it. Based on the first law, in the absence of a net force, an object will move at a constant speed. When net external
force is applied, in this case, when the driver steps on the brakes, then there is a change in the velocity of the car; however, because of inertia,
our body tends to stay in motion that is why our body moves forward involuntarily.
On the other hand, when we are on a car that is at rest, our body is also at rest. When a net external force is applied to the car that starts the
car moving, our body tends to stay at rest that is why our body moves backwards involuntarily.
Inertia and Mass
An object’s inertia depends on its mass. Mass is the amount of matter in an object. It is a quantity that only depends on the inertia of an object.
This implies that heavier objects are harder to move or when it is already moving, it is hard to stop. Simply put, the greater the mass, the
greater the amount of inertia.
Explore!
In the game of bowling, a heavy ball is rolled down an alley to hit the duckpins. When the bowling ball and the duckpins interact, can you
identify the action and reaction forces here? What are the effects of the action and reaction forces on the bowling ball and the duckpins?
What do you think? What is the difference between Newton's first law of motion with Galileo's concept of inertia?
Key Points

 Sir Isaac Newton in 1687 published his book entitled Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica which contains his treatise on
motion and the three laws of motion.
 The first law of motion states that an object at rest or in motion will stay at rest or in motion with constant velocity unless acted upon
by a net external force.
 The second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force exerted on the object and
inversely proportional to the mass of the object.
 The third law of motion states that when an object exerts a force on another object, the second object exerts an equal and opposite
force to the first object.
Newton’s Law of Inertia vs. Galileo’s Assertion on Horizontal Motion
In the previous lesson, you have learned Newton’s laws of motion which provided the framework for the understanding of how forces and
motion are related.
Before Isaac Newton came up with his laws of motion, a lot of scientists have laid the foundation for the study of force and motion. One of these
scientists was Galileo Galilei.
Who was Galileo Galilei? What were his contributions to the concept of inertia?
Is there a difference between Galileo’s assertion and Newton’s first law of motion?

There is a subtle difference. The difference lies in the concept of force. Galileo knew about friction but did not know about the concept of force.
He used the term 'push and pull' to signify forces. It was Sir Isaac Newton who defined the concept of force and its relation to motion.
What do you think?
Since there is no gravity in space, will it be easier to lift a sack of rice in space compared here on earth? What does the law of inertia and
Galileo’s assertion tell us about this?
Key Points

 The concept of inertia was a result of Galileo’s studies of motion.

 Inertia refers to the tendency of any material to change its state of motion.
 Galileo asserted that if a rolling ball was ‘left alone’ it will continue to move with constant velocity.
 The only difference between Galileo’s assertion and Newton’s first law of motion is the concept of force.
 Galileo did not know yet the concept of force, and it was Newton who finally explains the nature of forces.

Newton’s Second Law of Motion and Newton’s Law of Universal Gravitation: Identical Acceleration
What do you think?Would the value of g increase, decrease, or remain constant if the free falling body is far from the Earth’s
surface?
Key Points

Newton’s Law and Kepler’s Laws of Planetary Motion

Think about chess and checkers. If you are familiar with these two games, then you certainly know the rules of these games.
Now think about this:
Do the set of rules of chess applicable to checkers and vice-versa?
If you have answered no, then you are correct. The rules of these games are unique from one another, the same way Newton’s laws and
Kepler’s Laws are unique. So how are they related?

There are many scientific laws that describe movements of objects. Newton’s laws of motion generally describe the motion of bodies ranging
from tiny objects, such as a speck of dust, to very large objects, such as stars. On the other hand, Kepler’s laws of planetary motion specifically
describe the motion of orbiting planets. Both of these laws describe the motion of objects, but how are they related?

Laws, Axioms, and Empirical Laws

Scientific laws, like Newton’s laws and Kepler’s laws, are descriptions of an observed occurrence. Unlike theories, laws do not explain the
cause of the observed phenomenon or why it happens. In science, we can say that laws are the ‘rules of the game’ followed by all things in our
world.
Laws can be considered as axioms or empirical laws. An axiom, in Mathematics, is a well-established statement. Just like in the game of chess
and checkers, the set of rules are already established and we just accept it to be true or the proper way of playing this game even without
proving that they are the ‘proper way’ to play the game. An axiom, although accepted and taken to be true, remains unprovable.

Empirical laws, on the other hand, are descriptions supported by factual observations and are not derived from existing laws.
Newton’s Laws of Motion and Kepler’s Planetary Motion
Newton’s laws of motion are considered to be axioms. The three laws of motion are actually unproven and unprovable but we accept them to
be true. They provide useful ways of thinking for us to understand the motion of the objects around us.
Let us consider the first law of motion:
An object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion remains in motion remains in motion in with constant velocity unless acted upon by an
external, unbalanced force.
Can you identify any situation in which this ‘law’ holds true?
If you have made assumptions first before giving an example, then that is the first sign that this is an axiom. An axiom holds true only within the
context that they are applied. Therefore, we can say that the Newton’s laws of motion are axioms because they hold true only when
assumptions are established.
On the other hand, Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are empirical laws because they are based on his observation and computation of
planetary movements; it is not derived from any existing law and is evidence-based descriptions.
Let us look at the first law of planetary motion by Johannes Kepler:
Each planet moves on an ellipse with the Sun at one focus.
Do you think you have to make assumptions about this ‘law’ to be true?
If you have answered no, then you are correct. As an empirical law, we can directly observe and gather physical evidence that this law is true.

Tips
To differentiate between axioms and empirical laws, you need to remember that axioms are accepted truths but they are unproven and
unprovable while empirical laws are based on factual observation and evidence.
Try it!
Read and analyze the statements below.

1. The acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force applied and inversely proportional to its mass.
2. The imaginary line connecting a planet and the Sun sweeps out equal areas in equal times.

Which statement do you think is an axiom? Which is an empirical law? Justify your answers.
What do you think?
Galileo's law of simple pendulum is considered as an empirical law. This law, however, fails to match the movement of the pendulum exactly
because of certain impediments such as friction around a pivot-point. Why is this law still considered an empirical law?
Key Points

 Scientific laws describe a certain phenomenon without explaining why they occur or what causes their occurrence.
 An axiom is a statement that is accepted to be true but remains unproven or unprovable.
 Axioms hold true only when assumptions are made.
 An empirical law is based on factual observations and evidence.
 Newton’s laws of motion and Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are both scientific laws that describe motion.
 Newton’s laws are axiom because they are unproven and unprovable and holds true only when assumptions are made.
 Kepler’s laws of planetary motion are empirical laws because they are based on observation and evidence.

The Law of Conservation of Momentum

Mass is the measure of inertia of an object which is at rest. That is, the greater the mass of the object, the greater is its tendency to stay at rest
(or it is harder to get it moving). Whereas, momentum is the measure of inertia of moving objects. That is, the greater the momentum (or the
faster the object moves) the greater is its tendency to stay moving (or it is harder to stop).
Try it!
A 0.63-kg basketball, with a velocity of 10 m/s, and a 0.27-kg ball of clay, with a velocity of 2.5 m/s, are moving toward each other. After the
collision, the two objects stuck together and moved as one object. What will be the velocity of the ball-clay system after the collision?
Try it! Solution
Step 1: Identify the given quantities.
Tips

 If the object is at rest, its momentum is zero.

 To check your answer, add the momentum after and before collision. If they are equal you are most likely correct, if not go back and
check your solution.
Try it! Apply the law of conservation of momentum in solving the following problems.
1. In an unfortunate accident, a 1500-kg car moving at 15 m/s collided with parked 500-kg motorcycle. If the motorcycle moved 5 m/s to
the right after collision, what is the velocity of the car after collision?
2. A 60-kg skater slides across the skating rink at a rate of 6 m/s. He picks up his 40-kg son who is standing at the center of the rink.
What will be the velocity of skater and his son?
What do you think?
The total momentum of a system does not change if there are no external forces acting on it.
Are there any exceptions to this law?
Key Points

Mass, Momentum, and Energy Conservation

Mass, momentum, and energy are three quantities that can be conserved. In Physics, when we say a quantity is conserved, it means that
after an interaction or a reaction, no part of that quantity is lost.

Law of Conservation of Mass

The law of conservation of mass states that mass in an enclosed system is neither created nor destroyed by a chemical reaction. Thus, in a
chemical reaction, the mass of the reactants must be equal to the mass of the products.

Below are the people who had contributed to the understanding of mass and its conservation.

 Ancient Greek philosophers believed that 'nothing comes from nothing' which implied that everything in the present had come from
an origin.
 Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was a Persian polymath who wrote that a body of matter could not disappear completely. It could only change its
form, condition, and other properties. These changes could turn it into a different form of matter.
 Mikhail Lomonosov was a Russian writer and polymath who disproved the phlogiston theory, which assumed that matter
contained phlogiston— a fire-like substance that existed in combustible materials. He showed in an experiment of burning metals that
the mass of metals remained the same after burning.
 Antoine Lavoisier proposed the law of conservation of mass. This law states that in a chemical reaction, the total mass of the
products is always equal to the total mass of the reactants; and atoms are neither created nor destroyed, but rearranged to form new
substances.

Law of Conservation of Energy

The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed from one form to another.
Hence, the total energy of an isolated system never change.

Below are some of the scientists who had contributed to the development of the law of conservation of energy.

 Galileo Galilei was an Italian astronomer and physicist who studied an 'interrupted pendulum. His experiment showed that the energy
was conserved in the pendulum causing it to swing to the same height as it was released. If energy was not conserved, it would have
stopped and have not completed its swing. In a modern sense, he demonstrated that kinetic energy can be converted to potential
energy and vice versa.
 Christian Huygens was a Dutch mathematician who published his laws of collisions. He noted that the kinetic energies of colliding
objects were the same before and after the collision.
 Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz was a German polymath and philosopher who used Huygen's work on collision to derive a mathematical
formulation for energy that is related to motion (kinetic energy). It is called vis vivawhich is the Latin word for 'living force' and
represented as mv2.
 Émilie du Châtelet performed experiments where she dropped a ball into soft clay at different heights. She learned that the ball's
kinetic energy was proportional to the square of its velocity, and the deformation on the clay was proportional to its initial potential
energy. She then proposed that energy is different from momentum.
 Albert Einstein developed a theory that united the concepts of mass and energy. Einstein’s energy-mass equivalence implies that
neither mass nor energy are separately conserved, but they could be interchanged. The total ‘mass-energy’ of the universe is
conserved.

Law of Conservation of Momentum

Just as mass and energy are conserved, momentum is also conserved. The law of conservation of momentum states that the total momentum
of an object does not change (i.e it remains at rest or in motion with constant velocity) if there are no external forces acting on it.

Below is a list of scientists who have contributed to the development of the law of conservation of momentum.
  Jean Buridan was a teacher and philosopher who first used the term ‘impetus’ to signify the notion of momentum. According to his
theory, an impetus set an object in motion, and it increases as the object's speed also increases.
 Rene Descartes was a French philosopher and mathematician who proposed that the total 'quantity of motion' of the universe is
conserved and it is equal to the product of the object's size and speed. This is almost the same as the modern concept of
conservation of momentum, however, Descartes had no concept of mass that was different from weight and size of the object.
 John Wallis was an English mathematician who suggested the law of conservation of momentum. This law states that a body will
remain at rest or in motion, unless an external force applied to it is greater than its resistance. This statement is similar with the first
law of motion of Sir Isaac Newton.
 Isaac Newton was an English physicist and mathematician who defined the 'quantity of motion' as a product of velocity and mass and
later identified it as momentum. He implied that when no force acts on the object, the quantity of motion is conserved.
Key Points

 Mass, momentum, and energy are quantities that can be conserved in a physical interaction.
 The law of conservation of mass states that mass in an enclosed system is neither created nor destroyed by a chemical reaction.
 People who had contributed to the understanding of mass and its conservation include some of the ancient Greek philosophers, Nasir
al-Din al-Tusi, Mikhail Lomonosov, and Antoine Lavoisier.
 The law of conservation of energy states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be transformed from one form to
another. Hence, the total energy of an isolated system never change.
 Some of the scientists who had contributed to the development of the law of conservation of energy include Galileo Galilei, Christian
Huygens, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz, Émilie du Châtelet, and Albert Einstein.
 The law of conservation of momentum states that the total momentum of a system does not change as if there are no external
forces acting on it.
 Some of the scientists who had contributed to the development of the law of conservation of momentum include Jean Buridan, Rene
Descartes, John Wallis, and Isaac Newton.