Description: Newton’s Laws of Motion are a set of models which explain how objects with mass change their motion due to interactions with other objects. These interactions are described as forces. Newton's Laws explain how forces affect the motion of objects. Newton developed three laws of motion and a law of gravitation. These laws can explain the motion of most objects in the Universe, with motions involving high velocities and/or very strong gravity requiring Einstein's theories of special and general relativity respectively.

Related Terms:

• Gravity

Term and definition status: This term and its definition have been approved by a research astronomer and a teacher

The OAE Multilingual Glossary is a project of the IAU Office of Astronomy for Education (OAE) in collaboration with the IAU Office of Astronomy Outreach (OAO). The terms and definitions were chosen, written and reviewed by a collective effort from the OAE, the OAE Centers and Nodes, the OAE National Astronomy Education Coordinators (NAECs) and other volunteers. You can find a full list of credits here. All glossary terms and their definitions are released under a Creative Commons CC BY-4.0 license and should be credited to "IAU OAE".