1. Isaac Newton proposed that objects have a tendency to maintain their state of motion unless acted upon by an external force, known as the principle of inertia.
2. Newton established three laws of motion: the first law describes inertia and states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion unless acted on by an unbalanced force; the second law relates force, mass, and acceleration; the third law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.
3. Forces can be categorized as either contact forces, which require touching an object, or long-range forces like gravity that act from a distance. Forces have identifiable agents that cause them, and free body diagrams are