Learn Physics with Functional Programming

14NEWTON’S SECOND LAW AND DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

Isaac Newton accomplished a lot. Among the numerous physical and mathematical insights he left us are three numbered laws that bear his name. Newton’s second law is the most important of these; it provides a method for understanding the motion of an object if we know the forces that act on it. Newton’s third law is almost as significant; it’s a rule about how two objects interact. Newton’s first law, from a mathematical standpoint, is a corollary to Newton’s second law, so it seems the smallest of the three. But since Newton’s second law is sufficiently intuition shattering, it’s helpful to get ...