A Student's Guide to Newton's Laws of Motion

Newton's laws of motion, which introduce force and describe how it affects motion, are the gateway to physics - yet they are often misunderstood due to their many subtleties. Based on the author's twenty years of teaching physics and engineering, this intuitive guide to Newton's laws of motion corrects the many misconceptions surrounding this fundamental topic. Adopting an informal and pedagogical approach and a clear, accessible style, this concise text presents Newton's laws in a coherent story of force and motion. Carefully scaffolded everyday examples and full explanations of concepts and equations ensure that all students studying physics develop a deep understanding of Newton's laws of motion. Fully worked solutions to the exercises are available on the book's webpage.

Preface; Acknowledgments; 1. Newton's third law: forces belong to interactions; 2. Freebody diagrams: representing forces; 3. Newton's first law: permission to use Newton's second law; 4. Introducing Newton's second law; 5. Newton's second law with zero acceleration; 6. Describing changing motion: acceleration; 7. Newton's second law with changing motion; 8. What comes next; References; Index.

Sanjoy Mahajan is Research Affiliate in the Mathematics Department and J-WEL Affiliate at the Jameel World Education Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After having studied mathematics at the University of Oxford and physics at the California Institute of Technology, he has taught physics, mathematics, and engineering around the world, including at the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and the University of Cambridge. He is the author of The Art of Insight in Science and Engineering (2014) and Street-Fighting Mathematics (2010).