Newton's Laws Lab Physics This lab activity will help you to understand Newton's 1st and 2nd Laws. Newton's 1st Law of Motion states that an object will remain at rest until it is acted upon by an external unbalanced force; F = 0. Newton's 1st law is also known as the Law of Inertia. Newton's 2nd Law of Motion states that an object will accelerate in the direction of the applied force; F = ma. The unit for Force is a 1 kg 1 m/s2 = 1 Newton (N). The applied force on an object is directly proportional to the object's acceleration. An objects mass is inversely proportional to the acceleration of the object