In Lecture 8, we were introduced to Newton’s 3 laws of motion. We also saw how to apply some of these laws to some basic problems in dynamics (or the explanation of why objects move the way they do). 

In this lecture, we are going to go into more detail in showing exactly how to go about applying Newton’s laws.  In particular, we will spend a good bit of time seeing how to apply Newton’s 2nd law, which tends to be the most often used equation when solving dynamics problems.

Warning: The problems starting with this lecture will be stretching your mathematical abilities to the limit. Don’t panic!! Everyone is in the same boat of trying to keep their head above the surface of the mathematical waters! Keep working at it, and it will become easier and easier for you to tackle the mathematics involved as time goes on.  Don’t expect it all to come easily to you from the very beginning!