Using hip hop, dance, film and comedy, Forces in Motion (FMA) Live! made Sir Isaac Newton’s Three Laws of Motion and Universal Law of Gravity come to life during a performances on Friday at Newton High School.

The Honeywell and NASA sponsored traveling show is designed to illustrate these three basic laws of physics to everyday life: kicking a ball, shooting hoops or dropping an apple. It gives students early exposure to space and Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) based learning.

“It’s been really good for the kids,” said Shannon Buff, Director of Secondary Schools in the Newton County School System (NCSS). “It brings their curriculum to life. Now, when they dance or play baseball, they’ll think of the laws of motion. To hear them yell out the laws [here], you know it’s going to stick with them.”

Students from the NCSS middle schools attended one of three performances.

“This [FMA Live!] is part of Honeywell’s Hometown Solutions,” said State Representative Rahn Mayo (D-District 84) and a business consultant with Honeywell in Georgia. “I think STEM is the backbone of technology and industry in the 21^st Century. It’s important our students are prepared careers in software development, information technology, coding, automation, design and other applications that help drive our economy and helps us be production at a time when information and computer technology is paramount to our success.”    

In between times when the performers demonstrated Newton’s Three Laws of Motion, a film portrayed a 17^th Century clad, Chucks-wearing Isaac Newton explaining the English scientist’s physical laws:

An object at rest or in motion remains unchanged, or inert, unless compelled to change;

Force equals mass times acceleration; and

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.

The FMA performers illustrated the laws using volunteer students, teachers and a principal. Students wearing Velcro suits jump up against a Velcro covered wall, illustrating the first law, inertia. Middle school teachers donned “fat suits” and helmets to wrestle, demonstrating law two; and Cousins Principal Dr. Makeba Clark, in protective coveralls, was splattered with applesauce from an overhead sphere when students hit targets, illustrating law three.

Among those attending the performance were U.S. Representative Hank Johnson (D-GA 4^th District), State Representative Pam Dickerson (D-District 113), Shakila Henderson-Baker, NCSS Board of Education member from District 3, and Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey.