Shadowing Practice: Newton's Laws: Crash Course Physics #5 - Learn English Speaking with Video

We've been talking a lot about the science of how things move.

You throw a ball in the air, and there are ways to predict exactly how it will fall.

But there's something we've been leaving out.

Forces.

And why they make things accelerate.

And for that, we're going to turn to a physicist you've probably heard of.

Isaac Newton.

With his three laws, published in 1687 in his book Principia, Newton outlined his understanding of motion, and a lot of his ideas were totally new.

Today, more than 300 years later, if you're trying to describe the effects of forces on just about any everyday object – a box on the ground, a reindeer pulling a sleigh,

or an elevator taking you up to your apartment – then you're going to want to use Newton's laws.

And yes, I'll explain the reindeer thing later.

Newton's first law is all about inertia.

Which is basically an object's tendency to keep doing what it's doing.

It's often stated as an object in motion will remain in motion, and an object at rest will remain at rest, unless acted upon by a force.

Which is just another way of saying that to change the way something moves, to give it acceleration, you need a net force.

So how do we measure inertia?

Well, the most important thing to know is mass.

Say you have two balls that are the same size, but one is an inflatable beach ball and the other is a bowling ball.

The bowling ball is going to be harder to move, and harder to stop once it's moving.

It has more inertia because it has more mass.

Makes sense, right?

More mass means more stuff, with a tendency to keep doing what it was doing before your force came along and interrupted it.

And this idea connects nicely to Newton's second law.

Net force is equal to mass times acceleration.

Or, as an equation, F net equals ma.

It's important to remember that we're talking about net force here, the amount of force left over once you've added together all the forces that might cancel each other out.

Let's say you have a hockey puck sitting on a perfectly frictionless ice rink.

And I know they're not usually perfectly frictionless, but stick with it.

If you're pushing the puck along with a stick, that's a force on it that isn't being canceled out by anything else.

So the puck is experiencing acceleration.

But when the puck is just sitting still, or even when it's sliding across the ice after you've pushed it, then all the forces are balanced out.

That's what's known as equilibrium.

An object that's in equilibrium can still be moving, like the sliding puck, but its velocity won't be changing.

It's when the forces get unbalanced that you start to see the exciting stuff happen.

And probably the most common case of a net force making something move is the gravitational force.

Say you throw a 5 kilogram ball straight up in the air and then, you know, get out of the way, because that could really hurt if it hits you.

But the force of gravity is pulling down on the ball, which is accelerating downward at a rate of 9.81 meters per second squared.

So the net force is equal to Ma, but the only force acting here is gravity.

This means that if we could measure the acceleration of the ball, we'd be able to calculate the force of gravity.

And we can measure the acceleration.

It's 9.81 meters per second squared, the value we've been calling small g.

So the force of gravity on the ball must be 5 kilograms, which is the mass of the ball, small g, which comes to 49.05 kilograms times meters per second squared.

We use this equation for gravity so much that it's often just written as Fg equals mg.

That's how you determine the force of gravity, otherwise known as weight.

Now, those units can be a bit of a mouthful, so we just call them newtons.

That's right, we measure weight in newtons, in honor of Sir Isaac, and not in kilograms.

Kilograms are a measure of mass.

But gravity often isn't the only force acting on the object.

So when we're trying to calculate a net force, we usually have to take into account more than just gravity.

This is where we get into one of the forces that tends to show up a lot, which is explained by Newton's third law.

You probably know this law as for every action there's an equal but opposite reaction, which just means that if you exert a force on an object, it exerts an equal force back on you.

And that's what we call the normal force.

Normal, in this instance, means perpendicular, and the normal force is always perpendicular to whatever surface your object is resting on.

At least, it is when you're pushing on something big and macroscopic, like a table.

If you put a book down on a table, the normal force is pushing, and therefore pointing, up.

But if you put it on a ramp, the normal force is pointing perpendicular to the ramp.

Now, the normal force isn't like most other forces.

It's special, because it changes its magnitude.

Say you have a piece of aluminum foil stretched tightly across the top of a bowl, and then you put one lonely grape on top of it.

Because of gravity, that grape is exerting a little bit of force on the foil, and the normal force pushes right back with the same amount.

But then you add another grape, which doubles the force on the foil.

In that case, the normal force doubles, too.

That'll keep happening until eventually you add enough grapes that they break through the foil.

That's what happens when the normal force can't match the force pushing against it.

But what does Newton's famous third law really mean, though?

When I push on this desk with my finger right now, I'm applying a force to it, and it's applying an equal force right back on my finger – one that I can actually feel.

But if that's true – and it is – then why are we able to move things?

How can I pick up this mug?

Or how can a reindeer pull a sleigh?

Basically, things can move because there's more going on than just the action and reaction forces.

For example, when a reindeer pulls on a sleigh, Newton's third law tells us that the sleigh is pulling back on it with an equal force.

But the reindeer can still move the sleigh forward, because it's standing on the ground.

When it takes a step, it's pushing backward on the ground with its foot, and the ground is pushing it forward.

Meanwhile, the reindeer is also pulling on the sleigh, while the sleigh is pulling right back.

But the force from the ground pushing the reindeer forward is stronger than the force from the sleigh pulling it back.

So the animal accelerates forward, and so does the sleigh.

So one takeaway here is that there would be no Christmas without physics.

Now we have an idea of some of the forces we might encounter, let's describe what's happening when a box is sitting on the ground.

The first thing to do, which is the first thing you should always do when you're solving a problem like this, is to draw what's known as a free body diagram.

Basically, you draw a rough outline of the object, put a dot in the middle, and then draw and label arrows to represent all the forces.

We also have to decide which direction is positive.

In this case, we'll choose up to be positive.

For our box, the free body diagram is pretty simple.

There's an arrow pointing down, representing the force of gravity, and an arrow pointing up, representing the force of the ground, pushing back on the box.

Since the box is staying still, we know that it's not accelerating, which tells us that those forces are equal.

So the net force is equal to zero.

But what if you attach a rope to the top of the box, then connect it to the ceiling so the box is suspended in the air?

Your net force is still zero, because there's no acceleration on the box, and gravity is still pulling down in the same way it was before.

But now the counteracting upward force comes from the rope acting on the box, in what we call the tension force.

To make our example simpler, we almost always assume that ropes have no mass and are completely unbreakable.

No matter how much you pull on them, they'll pull right back.

Which means that the tension force isn't fixed.

If the box weighs 5 newtons, then the tension in the rope is also 5 newtons.

But if we add another 5 newtons of weight, the tension in the rope will become 10 newtons.

It's kind of like how the normal force changes with the grapes on the foil, but in this case, it's in response to a pulling force instead of a push.

The key is that no matter what, you can add the forces together to give you a particular net force, even though that net force might not always be zero.

Like in an elevator.

So let's say you're in an elevator, or as I call them, a lift.

The total mass of the lift, including you, is a thousand kilograms, and its movement is controlled by a counterweight attached to a pulley.

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The plan is to set up a counterweight of 850 kilograms, and then let the lift go.

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Once you let go, the lift is going to start accelerating downwards, because it's heavier than the counterweight.

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And the hope is that the counterweight will keep it from accelerating too much.

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But how will we know if it's safe?

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How quickly is the lift going to accelerate downward?

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To find out, let's first draw a free-body diagram for the lift, making up the positive direction.

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The force of gravity on the lift is pulling it down, and it's equal to the mass of the lift times small g.

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9,810 newtons of force in the negative direction.

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And the force of tension is pulling the lift up in the positive direction.

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Which means that for the lift, the net force is equal to the tension force minus the mass of the lift times small g.

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Now, since Newton's first law tells us that F net equals ma,

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we can set all of that to be equal to the lift's mass times some downward acceleration, minus a.

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That's what we're trying to solve for.

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So let's do the same thing for the counterweight.

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Gravity is pulling it down with 8,338.5 Newtons of force in the negative direction.

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And again, the force of tension is pulling it up, so that the net force is equal to the tension force minus the mass of the counterweight times small g.

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And again, because of Newton's second law, we know that all of that is equal to the mass of the counterweight times that same acceleration, a, which is positive this time,

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since the counterweight is moving upwards.

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So, putting all of that together, we end up with two equations and two unknowns.

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We don't have a value for the tension force, and we don't have a value for acceleration.

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But what we're trying to solve for is the acceleration, so we use algebra to do that.

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When you have a system of equations like this, you can add or subtract all the terms on each side of the equals sign to turn them into one equation.

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For example, if you know that 1 plus 2 equals 3, and that 4 plus 2 equals 6,

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you can subtract the first equation from the second to get 3 equals 3.

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And in our case with the lift, subtracting the first equation from the second gets rid of the term that represents the tension force.

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We now just have to solve for acceleration, meaning we need to rearrange the equation to set everything equal to A.

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We end up with an equation that really just says that A is equal to the difference between the weights, or the net force, on the system, divided by the total mass.

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Essentially, this is just a fancier version of F net equals ma.

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And we can solve that for a, which turns out to be 0.795 meters per second squared.

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Which is not that much acceleration at all.

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So as long as you aren't dropping too far down, you should be fine.

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Even if the landing's a little bumpy.

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In this episode, you learned about Newton's three laws of motion, how inertia works, that net force is equal to mass times acceleration,

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how physicists define equilibrium, and all about the normal force and the tension force.

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Crash Course Physics is produced in association with PBS Digital Studios.

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You can head over to their channel to check out amazing shows like BrainCraft, It's OK to be Smart and PBS Idea Channel.

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This episode of Crash Course was filmed in the Dr. Cheryl C.

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Kinney's Crash Course Studio with the help of these amazing people and our graphics team is Thought Cafe.

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Newton's Laws: Crash Course Physics”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: force, equal, net, mass, acceleration. This video has 137 sentences and 2220 words to shadow. The speech runs for 10:50. The speaker talks fast, about 205 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 83% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.

Key vocabulary in this video

The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
acceleration noun	/əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/	The act of accelerating, or the state of being accelerated; increase of motion or action; as opposed to retardation or deceleration.
sleigh noun	/sleɪ/	A vehicle, generally pulled by an animal, which moves over snow or ice on runners, used for transporting persons or goods. (contrast "sled", which is smaller)
equation noun	/ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/	The act or process of equating two or more things, or the state of those things being equal (that is, identical).
counterweight noun		A heavy mass of often iron or concrete, mechanically linked in opposition to a load which is to be raised and lowered, with the intent of reducing the amount…
newton noun	/ˈn(j)uːtən/	In the International System of Units, the derived unit of force; the force required to accelerate a mass of one kilogram by one metre per second per second.
kilogram noun	/ˈkɪləɡɹæm/	In the International System of Units, the base unit of mass; conceived of as the mass of one litre of water, but now defined by taking the fixed numerical…
reindeer noun	/ˈɹeɪndɪɹ/	Any Arctic and subarctic-dwelling deer of the species Rangifer tarandus, with a number of subspecies.
accelerate verb	/ɪkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/	To cause to move faster; to quicken the motion of; to add to the speed of.
puck noun	/pʌk/	A hard rubber disc; any other flat disc meant to be hit across a flat surface in a game.
grape noun	/ɡɹeɪp/	A small, round, smooth-skinned edible fruit, usually purple, red, or green, that grows in bunches on female vines of most species of genus Vitis and the…
foil noun	/fɔɪl/	A very thin sheet of metal.
rope noun	/ɹoʊp/	Thick strings, yarn, monofilaments, metal wires, or strands of other cordage that are twisted together to form a stronger line.
inertia noun	/ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/	The property of a body that resists any change to its uniform motion; equivalent to its mass.
meter noun	/ˈmitəɹ/	A device that measures things.
exert verb	/ɪɡˈzɝt/	To make use of, to apply, especially of something nonmaterial; to bring to bear.

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Word	Pronunciation	Meaning
point up verb		To emphasise or stress; to draw attention to.
break through verb		To gain popularity.
check out verb		To record the departure or withdrawal of someone or something (such as guests, employees, books, etc.).
come along verb		To accompany.
find out verb		To discover, as by asking or investigating.
get out of verb		To leave, exit or escape from; to become free of.
leave out verb		To omit, to not include, to neglect to mention.
make up verb	/ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/	To constitute, to compose.

Sentences worth repeating

Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:

How can I pick up this mug?
In this case, we'll choose up to be positive.
But how will we know if it's safe?
That's what we're trying to solve for.

Grammar in this video

The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:

Structure	In the video
Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — an action that started earlier and is still going on	We've been talking · we've been leaving · we've been calling
Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it	being canceled · are balanced · is explained
Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now	you've probably heard · you've added · you've pushed
Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing	ball, which is · kilograms, which is · lot, which is

Pronunciation to watch

The speaker uses 33 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, we're, isn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.

The “sh” and “zh” sounds: acceleration /əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, equation /ɪˈkweɪ.ʒən/, inertia /ɪnˈɝ.ʃə/, gravitational /ˌɡɹævɪˈteɪʃənəl/
Long words — get the stress right: acceleration /əkˌsɛl.əˈɹeɪ.ʃən/, accelerate /ɪkˈsɛl.əˌɹeɪt/, perpendicular /ˌpɜː.pənˈdɪk.jə.lə(ɹ)/, equilibrium /ɛkwɪˈlɪbɹɪəm/, elevator /ˈɛləˌveɪtɚ/

How to practise with this video

Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like acceleration, sleigh, equation.

What is the Shadowing Technique?

Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.

Shadowing technique: read the full step-by-step guide →

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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson

Key vocabulary in this video

Phrasal verbs you will hear

Sentences worth repeating

Grammar in this video

Pronunciation to watch

How to practise with this video

What is the Shadowing Technique?