I cannot believe second quarter is already one.  We learned a lot in what seems like no time at all.  Some interesting things we learned about this quarter were friction and other forces in motion as well as diagonal trajectories and Newton's laws.  Personally I thought Newton's laws were very interesting.  Using them, I can understand how objects will move and how forces will affect different objects.  In the case of the action reaction law, I never really understood how when I push on an object, the object pushes back.  However, this quarter has really cleared that up for me.  I now look at mundane things completely differently.  For example, when I look at my laptop sitting on my desk, I now see more than just a laptop on a desk.  I see lots of other forces acting on the laptop.  We really learned a lot this quarter. 

Here I have a weight.  As you can see, the weight is resting on a table.  It is at equilibrium.  I know this because there is no acceleration.  Because it is at equilibrium, all the forces in a force diagram would balance each other out.  At the moment, there are only two forces that would be drawn on a force diagram for the weight.  Natural force and mg.  These forces should balance each other out.  This is a 3 pound weight which means it is roughly 1.36 kg.  Therefore, the mg should be 13.328 N.  This means that the natural force will also be 13.328 N.

As you can see, this is a picture of me going down the slip and slide.  In order for me to slide all the way down, it is necessary for me to overcome a force called friction.  Frictional force is force that opposes motion or impending motion.  Frictional force is often the unbalanced force in Newton's first law.  If there was no friction on the slip and slide, I would keep sliding forever.  We were able to overcome this force by wetting the slip and slide, covering it with soap, and taking a running start.  Following Newton's second law, the faster I run before hitting the slide, the faster I will accelerate.  Newton's second law also states that mass is inversely proportional to acceleration, so if I was lighter yet still running at the same speed I would accelerate more.  After getting off the slide, I found that my belly was a little sore where I had hit the ground.  This is because of Newton's third law.  For every force there is an equal and opposite force.  When my stomach hit the ground, the ground hit my stomach back.  

Again, this is a picture of a tennis ball.  Last time I used this picture I talked about it rolling and it's velocity. This time, I am going to talk about how it is displaying Newton's first law, the law of inertia.  Newton's first law states that objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside unbalanced force.  Likewise, objects at rest tend to stay at rest unless acted upon by an outside unbalanced force.  This ball is currently in equilibrium.  I know this because it is not moving or more precisely, it is not accelerating.  Because it is not in motion, the ball will not move until an outside force, like me for example, moves it.  The more mass the object has, the more it has a tendency to stay inert.  This is Newton's first law.