Newton Law Experiments

[Shadow]

Hey all,

 

My friend asked me to design a couple of simple experiments proving Newtons three laws, so I was wondering if any of you have any cool ideas. Don't consider this homework, it's just ideas I'm interested in. For the first law, I was thinking about rolling a ping pong ball on a table, and then roll it again with something blowing at it. For the second, I was thinking of some kind of motor or such pushing a light object without problem, but having trouble/not being able to push a heavier one. For the third one, I really don't know, I was thinking of showing how a ball bounces, or maybe a balloon propelled by the air expelled from it...?

These experiments aren't very robust, so I was wondering if any of you have more original ideas.

 

Cheers,

 

Gabe

[Mr Skeptic]

For F=ma: two pairs of two weights attached to each other by a string on a frictionless table. The weight that you drop off the table should be the same (same force), but the weight that stays on the table different (different mass -> different acceleration).

A special case of the above, when a=0, there is by definition no change in velocity.

For F1=-F2: People on ice pushing objects.

[MM6]

Build matchstick rockets. Google it. They are a simple and excellent way to demonstrate Newton's three laws. You can design some experiments around it, if you really are trying to do experiments.

[swansont]

The third law can be shown with conservation of momentum. Have one object strike an identical one which starts at rest (best if this is done on a frictionless surface, or with pendulum bobs) Also try it with different masses, if you have a way of analyzing the motion.

[Shadow]

Thanks, all of you. I no longer need it, but I'll be sure to try out the rocket )