Newton's Laws of Motion

Hello. You can't see me, but I'm with you every time you move. Have you ever wondered why your soccer ball stays perfectly still on the grass until you give it a good kick? Or why it's so much fun to get a big push on a swing to go higher and higher? That's me at work. I am the secret rule that says things like to keep doing what they're already doing, whether that’s sitting still or rolling along. I'm also the reason you feel squished back into your seat when a car suddenly speeds up, or why you lurch forward when it stops. I am there when you throw a frisbee and watch it glide through the air, and when you jump up and always come back down. I am the reason for every push, every pull, every stop, and every go in your world. I am everywhere, making sure everything moves just the way it's supposed to. It’s a big job, but I love it.

For thousands and thousands of years, people felt me but didn't have a name for me or understand my rules. They just knew that things moved. Then, a very curious and super smart man named Sir Isaac Newton started watching the world very, very closely. He loved to figure out puzzles. He saw an apple fall from a tree and wondered why. He watched the Moon in the sky and wondered why it stayed up there. On July 5th, 1687, he wrote all about me in a very important book. In that book, he gave me a name and explained that I'm not just one rule, but three special ones that work together. You can call me Newton's Laws of Motion. My first rule is simple: things like to be lazy. If something is sitting still, it will stay still forever unless something pushes or pulls it. Your teddy bear won't fly off your bed unless you pick it up and throw it. And if something is already moving, it wants to keep moving in a straight line forever. My second rule explains that to move something heavy, you need a much bigger push than you need for something light. That’s why you can kick a soccer ball really far, but you can’t kick a car and make it move at all. The bigger the object, the bigger the push it needs. My third rule is my favorite, because it's like a secret handshake. It says that for every push, there is an equal and opposite push back. When you bounce a ball, it pushes on the ground, and the ground pushes right back, making it fly up into the air.

Ever since Sir Isaac Newton introduced me to the world, I’ve helped people understand so much. Before him, my rules were a mystery, but now people use them to do amazing things. I help engineers design faster cars and safer, more exciting roller coasters. I am the reason astronauts can guide their giant rockets all the way to the Moon and come safely back to Earth. But I'm not just for big, important things. I'm there with you every single day. I'm there when you play tag and have to speed up to catch a friend. I'm there when you ride your bike and push the pedals to go faster. I'm even there when you float in a swimming pool. I am the rules of the game for how everything in the universe moves. So next time you see something move, give me a little wave, and know that you understand a powerful secret about how the whole world works.