Student Name Omitted

Observation Essay
February 22, 2016

As humans, we wonder why things move the way

they do or why do they go at the speed that they
do. The solution to those who have a wondering
mind of these questions can be or is Newtons
Laws of Motion. An object in motion stays in
motion and an object at rest stays at rest unless
acted upon an outside force. The second law states
that in order to find the amount of force being
used upon an object, you would use the formula
F=MA. This formula isnt just for finding the force;
you can find the acceleration by dividing the force
by the mass. And the third law says that for every
action, there is opposed equal reaction. After
doing an observation with a skateboard and a
bowling ball, I will explain how each of Newtons
laws were performed.
My first observation I encountered was the
bowling ball having more speed than the
skateboard. Though both were being pushed
down an inclined sidewalk, why would the
bowling ball be faster than the skateboard? And
the answer to that question would be that because
of the bowling ball having a greater mass than the
skateboard plus the inclined sidewalk. The way
this observation applies to Newtons first law is

Student Name Omitted

Observation Essay
February 22, 2016

that if both objects were to have been held at rest

than it would have stayed rest, and when both
were in motion it was because of the outside force
acting upon it. Inertia is another word to state
how objects are before and after force is applied.
My second observation I witnessed was when
the bowling ball was placed on the skateboard and
was pushed down the inclined sidewalk. During
this observation, as the skateboard was being
pushed, the balls velocity changed once it fell
from the skateboard. Because the skateboard
needed a bit more force due to the mass added by
the bowling ball, the ball wasnt stabilized which
resulted of the aimless ball to go a different
direction at a faster speed. A way this observation
can be applied to Newtons second law is if you
were to find out how much force was used and the
mass and then divide the force by the mass to get
the acceleration of the bowling ball. Ex) 625 =
5 Answer: 125/ 2
My third observation that applies to Newtons
third law is when we had someone to sit on the
skateboard and tried to push it on the grass; we
also did the same thing with the bowling ball

Student Name Omitted

Observation Essay
February 22, 2016

except no one was sitting on it while being

pushed. Newtons third law says that for every
action, there is an equal opposite reaction. So
when the skateboard was being pushed, it was
harder due to the friction between the grass and
the skateboard. Once the skateboard got to
moving, it became a bit easier to push than it
being pushed on concrete which has less friction.
With the bowling ball, it wasnt hard to move on
the grass, but it was hard to keep it moving. If the
ball was on concrete, it would be easier for the
bowling ball to gain momentum. With the force
being used on both objects which is the action, the
reaction to that was the object going in the
opposite direction of the force.
In addition, there are a lot of ways to identify
Newtons laws for different objects. All of
Newtons laws applies to the observations Ive
seen so far. It also explains why these actions
happen the way they do.