Newton's First Law

In this unit, I have learned about Newton's First Law of inertia. This law states that objects in motion stay in motion and objects at rest stay at rest unless affected by an outside force. We applied this to translational equilibrium, meaning that an object is at rest or in constant motion. Using this we could find the tension force acting upon an object hanging from multiple cables by setting the sum of the forces in the x and y axes, ∑Fx and ∑Fy, equal to zero and using algebra to isolate and solve for the variables. We also used FBD's to help visualize the forces acting upon an object.

One thing that I have struggled with was the trigonometry. Sometimes it is difficult to know the exceptions when using sine instead of cosine for the x-component or using cosine instead of sine in the y-component.

I have noticed that my problem solving skills have gotten much better. Even when I feel like I don't completely understand a concept I surprise myself by being able to solve the problem and enhance my understanding of the concept. For example, I am beginning to understand how to know the exceptions when using trigonometry for the x and y-components. During the translational equilibrium lab, with some help from Chris, I correctly used trigonometry in the force components.

Newton's First Law can be applied to many situations in the real world. If someone knows Newton's First Law of inertia, then they are much more likely to wear a seat belt because they know that if they are in motion they will stay in motion even if the car stops due to an outside force, and they won't stop until they are stopped by the force of the windshield. It can also be used when hanging a sign or object and one needs to know if the cables that they have will be able to support the weight. These are just few of the many examples of how Newton's First Law can be applied to the world.

Mrs. Gende, I am sorry that I didn't do the assignment, I forgot to check the website and hope that you like my reflection post.