Here's another example of how to use Newton's second law along with vector addition of forces to figure out how to model an objects behavior in the real world:
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Newton's laws help us figure out how objects will behave when we apply forces that cause it to move. This is useful in order to be able to to land rockets on the moon, designing race cars that will accelerate faster around a turn on the highway, and so much more. But there's a problem... A lot of people can easily recite Newton's laws, but they either can't use them or understand how to apply them to the real world because they don't really know what they mean. There's evidence all around us about how the world works, but depending on what you focus on, you're going to stack different examples to support your beliefs about how the world works.
I can't tell you how many times students ask me how they can make a real light saber from Star Wars. They want to know how to make a light beam into a solid object that's tougher than steel. While I've never seen light do this in the real world, this is one of those unfortunate cases where too much media (like video games and movies) gets mixed in with how we see the world, and warps our understanding of the physical principles of the universe. There are thousands of movies and video games that use "cartoon physics" to get an action to appear on the screen a certain way, and when you watch that, it forms as a model in your mind about how the world works. If you've ever seen characters suspended in mid-air until they realize there's no ground beneath them and then they fall, or people plunging through solid walls at high speeds leaving an exact trace of their outline as they pass through it, or scaring someone which causes them to jump abnormally high in the air, you've seen this in action.
Now don't get me wrong - I love a good movie just as much as the next person, but when you're spending more time watching the world through a box, you're going to make a different model in your mind about how things behave than if you were spending time in the real world. It's not just media, though. One of the most common misconceptions we've already busted in a previous lesson is how an object needs a continuous force on it in order to continue it's motion. This one is totally not true - it's the absence of forces that makes continue its motion. One of the tasks of this physics course is to unravel these misconceptions and help you understand what's really going on by having you think for yourself, figure out what's going on, and evaluate your own thinking to see if it really makes sense.
[am4show have='p5;p58;' guest_error='Guest error message' user_error='User error message' ]
Newton's laws help us figure out how objects will behave when we apply forces that cause it to move. This is useful in order to be able to to land rockets on the moon, designing race cars that will accelerate faster around a turn on the highway, and so much more. But there's a problem... A lot of people can easily recite Newton's laws, but they either can't use them or understand how to apply them to the real world because they don't really know what they mean. There's evidence all around us about how the world works, but depending on what you focus on, you're going to stack different examples to support your beliefs about how the world works.
I can't tell you how many times students ask me how they can make a real light saber from Star Wars. They want to know how to make a light beam into a solid object that's tougher than steel. While I've never seen light do this in the real world, this is one of those unfortunate cases where too much media (like video games and movies) gets mixed in with how we see the world, and warps our understanding of the physical principles of the universe. There are thousands of movies and video games that use "cartoon physics" to get an action to appear on the screen a certain way, and when you watch that, it forms as a model in your mind about how the world works. If you've ever seen characters suspended in mid-air until they realize there's no ground beneath them and then they fall, or people plunging through solid walls at high speeds leaving an exact trace of their outline as they pass through it, or scaring someone which causes them to jump abnormally high in the air, you've seen this in action.
Now don't get me wrong - I love a good movie just as much as the next person, but when you're spending more time watching the world through a box, you're going to make a different model in your mind about how things behave than if you were spending time in the real world. It's not just media, though. One of the most common misconceptions we've already busted in a previous lesson is how an object needs a continuous force on it in order to continue it's motion. This one is totally not true - it's the absence of forces that makes continue its motion. One of the tasks of this physics course is to unravel these misconceptions and help you understand what's really going on by having you think for yourself, figure out what's going on, and evaluate your own thinking to see if it really makes sense.