Guico, Jem Mariel S.

PHYSICS
2nd Year – BS Psychology Mr. Ariel Sumague

Newton’s Laws

The scientist, Sir Isaac Newton, helped to organize the thinking about forces by formulating three laws. In
his book Newton describes his three laws of motion. Newton’s Laws are all around us. To prove this, you
will conduct 14 different activities showing everyday examples of these laws.

Lab Procedure
1. You will start at a lab station and then move from station to station until you have completed all 14
activities.
2. You will have 3minutes to do the activity at each lab station.
3. Perform the activity as directed.
4. Write a description of what you observe in your notebook.
5. Determine which of Newton’s Laws of Motion is being demonstrated.
6. Record this in your table.
7. Move to each of the other lab stations and repeat steps 3 – 7.

Lab Activities
Station 1 (Newton’s First Law of Motion) 4. Remove the note card without disturbing
1. Place a note card/ card board or any board either bottle.
paper on the table so about 1/3 of the card
extends over the edge of the table. Station 5 (Newton’s First Law of Motion)
2. Place a 5 peso coin on the card that is on the 1. Balance the meter stick on one hand and the
table. ruler on the other hand.
3. Predict what will happen to the coin when the 2. Which is easier to balance?
card is removed.
4. As quickly as you can, pull the card from Station 6 (Newton’s First Law of Motion)
under the coin. 1. Place the note card on top of the beaker.
5. Observe the motion of the coin. 2. Place a coin on the card, above the beaker.
3. Predict what happens when the card is rapidly
Station 2 (Newton’s First Law of Motion) removed.
1. Hold your right hand next to your right ear 4. Pull the card out as rapidly as you can.
with palm up. 5. Observe the motion of the coin.
2. Place a coin your elbow.
3. Quickly straighten your arm and catch the Station 7 (Newton’s Second Law of Motion)
coin. 1. Place a coin near one end of your lab table.
2. Use your finger to propel the coin toward the
Station 3 (Newton’s First Law of Motion) other end of the lab table trying to get it to stop
1. Place a coin in the bucket. exactly at the edge of the lab table.
2. Hold the bucket by the handle.
3. Twirl the bucket around in a circle. Station 8 (Newton’s Second Law of Motion)
1. There are two balls with different masses on
Station 4 (Newton’s First Law of Motion) the table.
1. Place the bottle containing water on the table. 2. Give the ball with the lower mass a gentle
2. Place the note card/ card board or board paper push and record how far it goes.
on top of this bottle. 3. Give the other ball a push, just as hard, and
3. Place the second bottle mouth down on top of record how far it goes.
the card and first bottle.
Station 9 (Newton’s Second Law of Motion) Which hits first?
1. Set up the cart/ toy car so that it is at the
starting tape. Station 12 (Newton’s Third Law of Motion)
2. One partner gently pushes the cart and the 1. Blow up the balloon
other times it. 2. Release the balloon
3. Stop the stopwatch when the car reaches the 3. Return the balloon to your teacher.
finish line.
4. Repeat steps 1, 2, and 3 giving the cart a Station 13 (Newton’s Third Law of Motion)
harder push. 1. Stand with each of your feet on a separate
5. Record your two times. sheet of paper.
2. Start to run.
Station 10 (Newton’s Second Law of Motion) 3. Observe the paper
1. Place the first marble on the top of the track.
2. Place the second marble on the bottom of the Station 14 (Newton’s Third Law of Motion)
track. 1. Pull one pendulum back about 25cm (10
3. Release the top marble so that it rolls down the inches).
track and collides with the second marble. 2. Let the stopper fall into the other stopper.
3. Watch what happens to each stopper following
Station 11 (Newton’s Second Law of Motion) the collision
1. At the same time, drop the flat piece of paper
& the wadded up piece of paper onto the lab
table.

Data Table
Table # Law # What you did Observations
1 1 I put a cardboard nearly at As I pull or remove the cardboard with a
the edge of my laboratory five-peso coin on the top of it, the coin
table with a five-peso coin on obviously moves. At the first trial, I’ve
the of it, and quickly pulled overdone the pull so the coin went along
the cardboard. with the cardboard. Then, in the second
trial, the minimize the force I exert when I
pull the cardboard, so the coin stayed on the
table. Same goes with the third trial. Even
though the stay the same on the top of the
table, the coin were somehow pull by
cardboard so it does not stay exactly on the
same location. It moves, as I moved the
cardboard.
2 1 I placed my right arm on my At the first trial, I wasn’t able to catch the
right ear and put my elbow coin maybe because I’m too slow. So in the
right at the same level of my second trial, I straightened my arms as fast I
shoulder, then I put the five- can, and that’s when I was able to catch the
peso coin on the top on my coin. Same goes in the third trial. It was
elbow. I immediately hard but based on my observations, it’s
straighten my arms and tried somehow testing your reflex and since I’m
to catch the coin. using a coin, maybe I was able to catch it
because it doesn’t have a heavier mass so it
didn’t go down really fast.
3 1 I put a coin inside the bucket In this station, the coin was obviously
 (I used a pitcher as an unbothered the moment I placed it inside
alternative), then move the the pitcher, but when I move the pitcher, the
pitcher in a circular motion. coin also moves in the circular motion. This
then proves the Law of Inertia, that if
there’s no force, it stays still.
4 1 I used a skincare bottle as an I made three trials but the two bottles did
alternative to a water bottle. I not remain on its position. It kept on
placed the first bottle at the breaking and falling. Maybe because I’m
table, put a cardboard on the not too fast when I pull the cardboard, or
top of it, and placed another maybe because the bottles did not stay still
bottle upside down. I tried because I exert another force to make it fall.
pulling the cardboard to see if
the two bottle will remain on
its position.
5 1 I have a meter stick and a The meter stick is much easier to balance
ruler. I will try to balance both than the ruler. It is because the center of
of the sticks in my fingers and gravity of meter stick is higher than the
see which one is easier to ruler. It is easier to balance a longer and
balance. heavy object than a smaller and light object.
6 1 I placed a cardboard on the All the three trials have the same result.
top of a glass (alternative for When I pull the card board the coin goes
beaker), then placed a five- inside the glass. The Law of Inertia works
peso coin on the top of the here when I pull the cardboard because I
cardboard. I tried removing exert force. When I wasn’t pulling anything,
the cardboard and see what the coin and the cardboard are staying still,
happens to the coin. but when I pull the cardboard, the coin went
down.
7 2 I placed a coin on the other At the first trial, I only exert a minimal
side of the table and tried force. I did not push the coin very hard, so it
pushing it using my fingers to did not go to the other side of the table,
the other side of the table. instead, it stopped moving in the middle. So
in my second and third trial, I push the coin
way harder than the first trial and so it goes
to the other side of the table. The second law
of motion works here because the net force
used will result the same in the acceleration
of an object. So, the harder I push, the
farthest the object goes. It works because
the coin is not heavy as some other objects,
so the greater the net force is, the greater
the acceleration would be.
8 2 I have two balls with a lower I made three trials and they almost had the
mass and a higher mass. I same result. The distance between the two
tried pushing the ball with a balls is not as far as I expected. This proves
lower mass in a gentle way, the second law of motion. When I pushed
and I pushed the heavier ball the ball with a lower mass as gentle as I can,
way harder. it will have the same speed. So, even though
I pushed the ball with a heavier mass very
hard, it will also give us the same result.
Because the heavier the object, the lesser the
acceleration. If push both balls very hard,
 the ball with a lower mass will go farther
than the other ball.
9 2 I have a toy car and I made a The results are; the first toy finished the line
starting and ending line. I at 2.53 seconds, while the second toy
started pushing the first toy finished the line for only .50 seconds. This is
very gently and the second toy because I exerted a small amount of net
times it. force to the first toy, while I exerted a huge
amount of force to the second toy. This
therefore proves the second law of motion.
10 2 I have two marbles and I tried The second marble went farther from the
rolling the first marble at the first marble because the first marble hit the
top of the track, making it second marble at a constant speed.
collide with the second marble Therefore, the second marble went far away
on the ground. because of the unbalanced force and the
amount of force that was made by the first
marble.
11 2 I have two papers, a flat paper The three trials I made has the same result.
and a wadded-up paper. I let The wadded-up paper hits the ground first.
go the two papers at the same Then, the flat paper takes too much time to
time, and observe which paper hit the ground. This is because the wadded-
hits the ground first. up paper has a heavier mass, so its
acceleration lessens. It didn’t go to any
direction, it went directly to the ground.
Unlike the flat paper, it went flowing to the
left and right because it hits the ground.
12 3 I blow up the balloon and The result of this station is already expected.
release it to see what will It went to different directions as I release it.
happen. The third law of motion works here because
as it exerts force (releasing oxygen), it also
gives the same equal of force (hitting air).
13 3 I placed two papers and stand This station confuses me a lot. When I was
on it. I tried running and doing this experiment, I don’t know what’s
observe the two papers. the third law of motion is happening in
there, but then, I realize that my feet exerted
a force when I started running and the
ground does the same. We both exerted a
force, so the paper somehow did not change
its position.
14 3 I do not have any pendulum When you start letting go the other side of
but I know what it looks like the pendulum, the other side will also do the
and how it works. same. It is because the gravity makes it
accelerate. This relates to the third law of
motion, which is when you exert force to the
other object (the other side of pendulum)
therefore, it will also exert the equal and
opposite force to the other side of the
pendulum.
Post Lab Questions

A. After you have completed all 16 stations, go back to your individual desk and read through your
observations for each of the activities for Newton’s First Law of Motion. Find the one thing that happens
in each of the activities. Record in the table. Repeat for the Second Law activities and then the Third
Law activities.

What observed in common

Newton’s First Law of Motion In the stations 1-6, the common things there is
when you do not exert any other forces, the
object will remain on its position. Hence, if there
is no force, the speed and the direction will not
change, but in those stations, I applied many
forces by pushing or pulling the objects. So
basically, the objects did not stay still.
Newton’s Second Law of Motion In the stations 7-11, it proves that the greater the
net force is, the greater the acceleration will be.
So, the acceleration of an object will always
depend on its mass and in the amount of force
that is being applied.
Newton’s Third Law of Motion In stations 11-14, the common thing here when
you exert a force, it will give you the same equal
of force.

B. At station 6, what supplied the force necessary to make the nut drop into the beaker?

The coin dropped into the beaker because I pulled the cardboard. This means the coin will
stay in its state of motions unless an unbalanced force is acting on it. The unbalanced force
is when I pulled the cardboard. The net force is equal to zero if all forces are in
equilibrium. This shows that there is no acceleration happened in the station 6.

C. At station 7, what supplied the force necessary to slow the penny down as it slid along the top
of the table?

The force that acted on this station is a net force of friction acting on the object. If there is
no friction, the coin will continue to slide nonstop. Friction is the one that causes to stop
the moving or sliding coin.

D. Why is a meter stick easier to balance than a ruler?

It is because the longer object has a greater moment of inertia. This means that a larger
force on the other side must be applied to the other side to make it balance. This will be
much easier to do with a longer object, than a shorter object.

E. How many laws of motion did Sir Isaac Newton write?

Isaac Newton wrote three laws of motion.

 Newton’s First Law of Motion (Law of Inertia), he states here that an object is at rest,
unless an unbalanced force acted on it.
 Newton’s Second Law of Motion (Amount of Force), he states here that the acceleration
of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied.
 Newton’s Third Law of Motion (Action and Reaction), he states here that whenever an
object exerts force on another object, the other object exerts an equal and opposite force to
the first object.