The First Law model displays the dynamics of a ball subject to no net force. The initial conditions for the ball are an initial velocity in the x and y directions. The initial position of the ball can be changed by dragging it when the simulation is paused. You can modify this simulation if you have Ejs installed by right-clicking within the plot and selecting "Open Ejs Model" from the pop-up menu item.
The First Law model was created using the Easy Java Simulations (Ejs) modeling tool. It is distributed as a ready-to-run (compiled) Java archive. Double clicking the ejs_newton_FirstLaw.jar file will run the program if Java is installed. Ejs is a part of the Open Source Physics Project and is designed to make it easier to access, modify, and generate computer models. Additional Ejs models for Newtonian mechanics are available. They can be found by searching ComPADRE for Open Source Physics, OSP, or Ejs.
Please note that this resource requires
at least version 1.5 of Java (JRE).
Newton's First Law Source Code
The source code zip archive contains an EJS-XML representation of the Newton's First Law Model. Unzip this archive in your EJS workspace to compile and run this model using EJS. download 23kb .zip
Last Modified: July 8, 2013
W. Christian, Computer Program FIRST LAW MODEL, Version 1.0 (2008), WWW Document, (https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7345&DocID=497).
Christian, W. (2008). First Law Model (Version 1.0) [Computer software]. Retrieved February 14, 2026, from https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7345&DocID=497
Christian, Wolfgang. "First Law Model." Version 1.0. https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7345&DocID=497 (accessed 14 February 2026).
%A Wolfgang Christian %T First Law Model %D June 1, 2008 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7345&DocID=497 %O 1.0 %O application/java
%0 Computer Program %A Christian, Wolfgang %D June 1, 2008 %T First Law Model %7 1.0 %8 June 1, 2008 %U https://www.compadre.org/Repository/document/ServeFile.cfm?ID=7345&DocID=497
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1 source code document is available
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