Beginning Math and Physics for Game Programmers

Using Newton's Laws to Determine How Forces Affect an Object's Motion

Now that we have discussed how to find the net force, Newton's laws will tell us how that net force affects an object's motion. Sir Isaac Newton is credited with, among other things, inventing calculus as well as discovering three laws that govern all motion on Earth (except for on the molecular level) in the late 17th century. These three laws tell us how forces affect an object's motion. We'll address them one at a time.

Newton's First Law specifies what happens when the net or total force on an object is 0. If all the individual forces cancel each other out, there should be no change in the motion. A perfect example of this law is you sitting in your chair right now. Your ...