20070212

Ten types of people, not three

Physics 8A learning goal M1.2

There are only two types of motion:
Equilibrium motion = velocity (magnitude _and_ direction) constant.
Non-equilibrium motion = velocity (magnitude and/or direction) changes over time.

There are three Newton's laws:
Newton's first law (N1) deals with equilibrium motion.
Newton's second law (N2) deals with non-equilibrium motion.

What happened to Newton's third law (N3)? (Answer: it doesn't deal with any type of motion; it discusses a fundamental property of forces.)

Which leads to the old computer science joke:
"There are three types of people in the world. Those who understand binary...and those who don't."

_Actual_ computer science students have informed me that the joke has _ten_ types of people in the world, not three...

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