Space Shuttle launch - a
dramatic display of force
While studying motion, Isaac Newton also developed mathematical tools, which he called the Calculus. Calculus, together with his Laws of Motion, helped to describe the movement of a cannonball with a precision never seen before. Newton's laws also helped to explain events such as:
A body remains at rest, or moves in a straight line (at a constant velocity), unless acted upon by a net outside force.
This means that an object at rest will remain at rest, and a moving object will continue to move, unless some force acts upon it.
The acceleration of an object is proportional to the force acting upon it.
This equation explains that the more force an object receives, the greater its acceleration will be. The quantity m, or mass, is a characteristic of the object. This equation, then, indirectly defines the concept of mass.
This is expressed by the equation:
