![dancing line all levels dancing line all levels](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/5wQIbyCU1vg/hqdefault.jpg)
We only write down equations that are physically consistent with the Universe, and any b that isn’t zero would lead to pathological behavior in physics.
![dancing line all levels dancing line all levels](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/Q5VvAiu6K84/maxresdefault.jpg)
Additionally, it seems like it’s even a little bit simpler: Instead of an equation like y = mx + b, for instance, which is the classic math formula for a line, there’s no “ b” in there at all.īecause this is physics, not mathematics. The first time you get an equation like F = m a, it’s simple to treat it the same way you’d treat an equation for a line in mathematics. (Credit: NASA/International Space Station) The Basics
![dancing line all levels dancing line all levels](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/PGzFpeUyF28/maxresdefault.jpg)
In space, your options are limited, but even in the International Space Station, one component (like an astronaut) can push against another (like another astronaut) to change the individual component’s motion: the hallmark of Newton’s laws in all their incarnations. In isolation, any system, whether at rest or in motion, including angular motion, will be unable to change that motion without an outside force. While it might seem like there’s very little to it, the truth is that there’s a fantastic world of physics that opens up when you investigate the depths of F = m a. In addition, it’s just three parameters - force, mass, and acceleration - related through an equals sign. Part of the reason why it’s so undervalued is because it’s so ubiquitous: After all, if you’re going to learn anything about physics, you’re going to learn about Newton, and this very equation is the key statement of Newton’s second law. Yet it’s the one that physics students learn more than any other at the introductory level, and it remains important as we advance: through our undergraduate educations, through graduate school, in both physics and engineering, and even when we move on to engineering, calculus, and some very intense and advanced concepts.į = m a, despite its apparent simplicity, keeps on delivering new insights to those who study it, and has done so for centuries. Despite the fact that it’s been in widespread use for some ~350 years now, since Newton first put it forth in the late 17th century, it rarely makes the list of most important equations. If there’s one equation that people learn about physics - and no, not Einstein’s E = mc 2 - it’s Newton’s F = m a.