Everyday Forces

In this picture, a student is walking across a lawn.  But what he doesn’t know is that physics and forces are happening right now.  Newton’s First Law is in effect in this photo.  The law states that objects in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force.  The student will continue to move forward until he decides to stop.

Also, Newton’s Third Law is in effect.  The third law says that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.  As he pushes off the ground, the ground equally pushes back on him.

It’s amazing how forces can occur in the simplest and most menial tasks.

Trajectory in Baseball

In this picture, a famous baseball player is throwing the ball from the outfield to the infield.  In order to get the maximum distance, the player has to throw the ball at a 45 degree angle.  The player does not want to leave the ball short otherwise errors may occur or runs could be scored.  This example relates to physics because it uses trajectory, angle, trigonometry, and distance.  45 degrees is the optimal angle because, the ball goes high enough to travel far but not too high so that it takes too long for it to come back down.

This applies to everyday life because many people play some sort of “throwing” sport.  Most players think throwing the ball hard will get maximum distance, when in reality the angle of the ball matters more.