5 physics equations everyone should know

All the technology we rely on, from cars to smartphones, was designed Using physics. You don’t need to know science to use this stuff. But a well-managed human being must understand at least some key concepts—along with some music, art, history, and economics. Robert Heinlein said it all in Enough time for love:

“A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, swine a pig, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance calculations, build a wall, set a bone, rest in death, take orders, make requests, cooperate, and act.” Alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, fertilize the field, program the computer, or cook a delicious meal, fight efficiently, and die bravely. The specialty is insects.”

So, for the sake of not being a bugger, here are the top five physics equations you should know.

1. Newton’s second law

I’m sure you’ve seen this before – it’s over 300 years old, popular for science memes and t-shirts. It says that the net force on an object is equal to its group (M(speed up times)A). But what does this really mean? It’s all about the interactions – like kicking a soccer ball or dropping a water bottle on the floor.

Newton’s second law says that we can describe these interactions with the concept of “force.” What do the forces do? A net force on an object changes the object’s motion. But wait! There is a much cooler combination in this simple equation.

See those stocks more and and A? This refers to variables that are vectors, meaning they contain more than one piece of information. For example, if someone asked you to “social distance” yourself by one metre, where would you end up? who knows? It can go 1 meter to the east, west, or 39 degrees from north. Distance itself is not the whole story; You also need to select a direction. This is true for both forces and acceleration. Other quantities (such as mass or temperature) have no direction. We call these numerical values.

Newton’s second law is very useful, but strangely, people don’t seem to think so. A common misconception is that a constant force makes an object move at a constant speed. What this equation says, instead, is that if you push into an object with a constant force, it will continue to accelerate.