Newton's Laws Of Motion (1) : The Law Of Inertia

ESA Science - Newton In Space (Part 1): Newton's First Law of Motion - The Law of Inertia

Newton's laws of motion are three physical laws that form the basis for classical mechanics. They have been expressed in several different ways over nearly three centuries.

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The laws describe the relationship between the forces acting on a body and the motion of that body. They were first compiled by Sir Isaac Newton in his work "Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica", first published on July 5, 1687.

Newton used them to explain and investigate the motion of many physical objects and systems. For example, in the third volume of the text, Newton showed that these laws of motion, combined with his law of universal gravitation, explained Kepler's laws of planetary motion.

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Newton's First Law of Motion

An object in motion will stay in motion, unless an outside force acts upon it. There exists a set of inertial reference frames relative to which all particles with no net force acting on them will move without change in their velocity. Newton's first law is often referred to as the law of inertia.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newton%2...
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