Part 157- Newton’s 3 Laws of Motion applied in our daily lives

Newton’s 3 laws of motion. Since we’ve learned them, we’ve only really applied them in science problems to define in which scenario they occur, or just to define how things work. Put that way, it sounds boring.

• Newton’s 1st Law- Inertia: An object at rest or in uniform motion will stay that way unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.
• Newton’s 2nd Law- Acceleration: An object acted upon by an unbalanced force will accelerate in the direction of the greater force. 
• Newton’s 3rd Law- Action Reaction: Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. 

Let’s start with the first one; inertia. An object at rest or in uniform motion will stay that way unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. Meaning, something will stay the way it is until something messes it up or changes it. For this first part, let’s apply these laws to productivity.

Things will only be completed when effort is applied. Unless you actually put some work or effort into doing something, it’ll actually get completed. But, just saying it’ll happen and not doing anything will not do anything. In order to get it progressing or a change in motion, you need that extra work, or unbalanced force, to make it possible.

Ah yes, acceleration. An object acted upon by an unbalanced force will accelerate in the direction of the greater force. I think the meaning is pretty straightforward. Things will go in the direction of the greater force. Anyway, before I relate this to a real life situation, I want to bring up the formula used to calculate acceleration. A=F/M: Acceleration= Force/ Mass. Let’s put this in terms of productivity.

F being the force applied, m is the mass of an object ( or in this case something we want to get done), and a is the acceleration of an object ( or the progress of our task). As mass must stay constant for the second law to work, force applied becomes proportional to the acceleration. So, the more effort, or force, you put into the goal, the faster the goal progresses towards completion. Similarly, the more blog posts you publish, the more exposure you get. ( However, I’m not really sure about that one. Hmmmmmmm.) How quickly or how much you get something done is equivalent to how much you dedicate to it and how complex the task is.

But, let’s be honest. Do we all finish everything in one go? Ehhhhh no. Maybe you do, and if so, I am impressed. Don’t get me wrong, I do commit and get my work done, but I’m more of the person to procrastinate on doing things that moment, and will split things into very unequal chunks to get it done. Continuing on what I said, we usually would split a lengthy, time-consumingly complex task into sections or chunks to complete each time within a deadline, or until completion. This is usually a better strategy when working as you can complete the tasks with the same amount of force, such as time, energy, effort, as compared to it all together. This leads to the final law, Action-Reaction.

Every action has an equal and opposite reaction. In a common classroom example, if you push against a wall, the wall is pushing back. When a rocket is launching, it pushes against the ground, and the ground pushes back. For anything that happens or anything that you want to do, there is an equal and opposite reaction, or an equal amount of resistance that is there to stop you.

For example, when we choose to do something, we often complicate it to a point they are enormous and out of reach, putting ourselves in a mindset that makes us almost unable to do it. To solve it, we have to clarify each specific aspect.of it, and make it simple. Different ways include making it easy for yourself, or focusing on the small actions. If we want to do something that changes us, or make some impact in ourselves, we need to start simple. Taking big steps at first is never the way to go. That’ll only make it worse, and have a greater amount of resistance on us. This will make us want to quit. Start small, with easy things that you can change. Then, as you get used to that, add more.

So, the three laws of motion are very easily seen in productivity.

• Things won't get done unless you do it first- Inertia
• Progress is equal to energy or time put in and the complexity of the task- Acceleration
• The more complex a project is, the higher the resistance of completing it is- Action Reaction

But, besides productivity, what else can we apply these 3 laws into? Maybe, social interactions or relationships? Well, let’s think of the bond as the object, and the interactions or parts of life as unbalanced forces.

Let’s say you want to become more sociable and want to make new friends. As of right now, the relationship between you two is the way it is as there haven’t been any changes. You two are both strangers to each other who make very minimal small talk or just notice each other there. However, once you start taking the initiative to get to know them, things change. The different unbalanced forces here include curiosity, attraction, fascination, etc. You probably became curious about a person and were impressed by them and wanted to know them better, or were attracted to them by some aura they have or their personality. This is the first thing that changes your relationship. These different forces are what is causing it to be changed, and to become in motion. 

Depending on how the relationship progresses, you two can become really good friends and experience another “stagnant” period in your relationship. This one is after the unbalanced forces. After being acted upon by those forces which caused your relationship to change, it would be in motion as it keeps changing with different experiences. However, after some time, it will calm down and you two will be normal with each other. This is another state of inertia. Everything is good between the two of you. However, what happens when you progress further and develop a stronger friendship?

When you create a stronger bond or friendship with someone, it’s very natural. Making a new friend can be exciting as it’ s something new and you can’t wait to create more memories or hang out with them more. But, friendships that are really strong and old aren’t like that. You have fun together, but it’s like a natural part of your routine. You don’t need to think about it because you already know you’ll have fun. Those unbalanced forces that originally created this new relationship have faded, and are no longer at play as much as before. What’s left is something created, and now the force or effort needed to keep it growing. Using the formula A=F/M, force is the effort put in to keep it growing, and acceleration is how much your relationship grows. Like we talked about in the previous example, the amount your relationship grows depends on the amount of force and how much you want it to grow.

Lastly, Action-Reaction. In this one, I believe a relationship grows as much as it can falter. As much as you may want to bring it forward, there’s the same amount that can cause it to break. There’s something pushing back. However, it’s not always negative. See it this way, if there’s a problem or a huge dispute that tears you and your friends or others in a relationship completely apart, just know that there’s an equal and opposite solution to this. To the factor that tore you apart, there’s a factor that can bring you together. Something with equal effect, value, and meaning.

As a recap, the three laws of motion can be seen in relationships as:

• Initiative to take the relationship further- Inertia
• Making your relationship grow, or the amount of effort put into improving your relationship is equal to the amount it grows- Acceleration
• For every dispute that occurs, there’s always a counter that can bring you back- Action-Reaction

Before I finish, I want to explain something regarding the first law. Although everything I’ve mentioned above is relatively positive, there are many negative factors as well. Let’s be real. Life isn’t perfect. We don’t live in a perfect society, a perfect world, nor are we perfect ourselves. There are many flaws that can’t be changed and are bound to happen no matter what. The same is here. These laws of motion can provide a reason for almost anything that happens. The reason something bad or good happens is either a result of one of these laws being put in play. Here are some alternate examples.

An existing relationship gets broken up. You could have a very strong, long-lasting friendship with someone, but something happens that could cause it to come apart. I have a personal example. I had a friend who I’ve known for some time. We used to do so many things together. Hang out, raise money, create a business” in our school’s annual event, and so much more. But, over time as we grew up, she started finding other friends. Friends who had the same taste in fashion or the same likes as her. This third-person/group took away the other in this friendship. Now, we aren’t as close friends as before. We may briefly talk to each other, but the conversations are like we’re foreigners or brief acquaintances with each other. The result of a third party coming in resulted in the friendship breaking apart.

The best way I would describe Action-Reaction is karma. Although they are slightly similar, the same idea is seen within both principles. The general idea behind karma is that each action a person takes will affect them at some point in the future. They both emphasize how there is a reaction that comes with each action. But, did you know that they both connect to each other?

In karma, if you were to do something good, there’s something good that will happen to you in the future. Similar to if you were to do something bad. With the third law, if you were to do something, something equally opposite would push back on it. They both are a way of putting something at rest/balanced, and they both are a result of each other. Using our good deed example, applying both principles, there will have to be something opposite to the deed to fulfill the third law. You gain something and lose something else. That puts it in balance again. However, we know that nothing can stay the same. There will eventually be something else that disrupts this ( inertia + acceleration) and has an equal reaction. As the previously done good deed occurred, you’ll get another good thing in the future. That good thing comes back again, and another opposite force will come to balance it again. Then another act will result in karma. They both sort of connecting with each other. 

What other ways can you apply the three laws of motion to? Productivity and relationships are just two of the many ways these three rules can be seen in our daily lives. Without knowing, we apply them in everything we use,and frankly, that’s quite fascinating. Anyways, I hope you got to see a different perspective of the three laws being used, and I will see you next post. Bye!