gymnastics – newton’s

laws.
Cassie Jones, 4ab.

Newton’s First Law:

Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state
of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

Newton’s first Law of Motion can be applied to gymnastics when on performing a

giant (swinging around the high bar) on the uneven bars. Once applying force (a
cast), the gymnast keeps their body as straight as possible to continue the
swinging. They will keep swinging around the bar until an outside force is applied.
In this case, the outside force would be body alignment. Once you start to bend,
you will start to slow down. Also, if this force wasn’t applied, you would still end
up stopping because of the friction applied.
Nastia Liukin, 5’ 2”, 99 lbs. (above & to the right)
Deng Linlin, 4’ 5”, 68 lbs. (top two on the right)

Newton’s Second
Law:
The acceleration of an object varies
directly as the external unbalanced force applied to it and inversely as its
mass.

With gymnastics, Newton’s second Law of Motion is applied when it comes to mass.
Gymnasts who are smaller (have less mass) can do some of the moves easier. This is
because it is easier for them to spin faster, rotate around the bar quicker, etc. The
downfall with this is that they usually are weaker and cannot apply as much force, which
also goes along with the second law. This is part of the reason why young gymnasts are
considered to be more “valuable” than older. Also, if a gymnast is lighter & can apply
more force on their jumps & leaps than a gymnast the same size, she will look much
more impressive. If there was a group of gymnasts of different masses, but they’re
strengths were all constant with their mass, they would usually have the same

acceleration.

Newton’s Third Law:

For every action force on an object, there is an equal
reaction force in the opposite direction on the object
exerting the action force.

Newton’s third law can be applied with pretty much anything in gymnastics. For
example, when a gymnast is performing any type of move on the beam, the beam
would collapse if it didn’t exert a force back as she lands. The same goes for the
floor and vault. When a gymnast uses a springboard, when the gymnast’s force is
put against the board, the board gives off a force which gives the gymnast
momentum.