If you have followed this blog for awhile, then you know that I was a high school science teacher for many years. Monitoring a test back in the day, a poem about science came to me (see “The Way of Science“). After the test I wrote the poem on the overhead projector transparency (1) for the students to read. We both were surprised by my poem. Over the ensuing years of teaching I wrote somewhat more than 80 poems about science, nature, theology, and relationships.
About a year ago I retired from teaching science, but before I did I started a poem about Newton’s Laws of Motion. As happened many times, the first verse came almost without effort. The version you are about to read has been modified slightly in order to increase clarity and rhythm. Sorting through a pile of papers to file, recycle, or deal with, this verse of a poem begged to be completed. I obliged with spare moments of concentration over several days. The last verse is my attempt to frame these laws in their historical and scientific context.
Isaac Newton’s laws are three
Explaining well how things come and go
Motion not from forces free
Impulses felt that are fast or slow
Motion continues the same
Inertia seems boring at first blush
Masses are stable and tame
Remain in a state of rest or rush
Force and motion change are tied
Acceleration only may be
When a net force is applied
Start, stop, deform, speed up, slow down, see
All forces occur in pairs
Most equal and opposite are they
Each a different object bears
So Laws One and Two are still in play
Newtonian Physics ruled
The basis of Mechanics you see
At atomic size was schooled
By Quantum and Relativity
(1) Some of youin’s mayhap need to Google that one.
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