Newton's Laws of Motion Quiz

Newton’s Laws of Motion were devised by the legendary physicist, mathematician and philosopher Issac Newton who lived during the 17th century. He was renowned for being a recluse and spent many years living alone, thinking and experimenting. He invented the field of calculus and many other great achievements including his laws of motion.

The laws describe the motion of objects through space and were successfully applied to the motion of the planets until the succession of these laws by General Relativity, an invention of Albert Einstein. Newton’s Laws partly due to their simplicity are still in use today.

Newton’s 1st Law of Motion describes the tendency of objects to continue their motion unless acted upon by an external force. If an object is in motion at any speed, it will continue at that speed. Similarly, objects at rest will stay at rest. Of course, gravitational influence conceals this law on Earth and this is counter to our experience. 

Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion describes the relationship between the strength of a force, the mass of an object and its acceleration. The equation is as follows:

F = MA

where F is force, M is mass and A is acceleration.

Forces are vector quantities with both magnitude and direction. 

Newton’s 3rd Law of Motion describes the opposing forces which exist for any object or action-reaction forces. As you read this you are likely sat down and so the force of your weight on the chair is exactly counteracted by the force of the chair on your behind. 

Interesting stuff, isn’t it? If you enjoyed our Newton’s Laws Quiz, perhaps you would like to try another one of our quizzes. Why not try the overall physics quiz and really test your knowledge? Or you could brush up on your knowledge of Waves first.