Newtons Cradle
By Aaron and Noah
How does Newton's Cradle show Newton's First and Second Law?
Newton's First Law
An object in motion will stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. An object at rest will remain at rest until acted upon by an outside force.
Newton's second law
The relationship between an object's mass m, its acceleration a, and the applied force F is F = ma.
Well the answer to our question is quite simple. It relates to the first law when we pick up a ball on the end and drop it, the ball stays in motion until it hits another ball. It relates to the second law also when we drop the ball. The ball has mass. When we drop it the ball accelerates and hits another ball, it transfers the force through the other balls and the end ball goes up and comes back down hitting the balls and the pattern continues.