Newton’s Third Law

Synopsis

Examines two important consequences of Newton’s Third Law stating that action and reaction are equal and opposite. First, for a closed system, the centre of mass of the system moves uniformly or stays at rest. Second, in collision processes momentum is conserved for elastic collisions. The first consequence is theoretically developed and illustrated by showing gliders on an airtrack connected by a spring. A marker was placed in the centre of the mass of the two pucks and, using after images, it was shown this point moved uniformly. The principle was extended to colliding pucks. The second half of the programme examines colliding pucks on an air table demonstrating linear momentum conservation for elastic collisions. The results are extended to include the weaker principle of kinetic energy conservation.

Series

Mathematical Models and Methods, Course Mst204

Language

English

Country

Great Britain

Medium

Video; Videocassette. Standard formats. col. 25 min.

Year of production

1981

Availability

OUT OF DISTRIBUTION

Subjects

Physics

Keywords

laws of physics; movement; Newton, Isaac; physics theories

Credits

Director

Ted Smith

Producer

Pip Surgey

Production Company

Name

BBC Open University Productions

Distributor

Name

Open University Worldwide

Web

http://www.ouw.co.uk External site opens in new window

Phone

+44 (0) 1908 274066

Address

Walton Hall
Milton Keynes
MK7 6AA

Notes

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