Understanding Inertia:

1. The law of Motion is Newtons First law of Motion:

Newtons First law of Motion
If the total force acting on a body is zero, the body will stay at rest (if it is
stationary), or will continue to move at a steady speed in a straight line (if it
is already moving).

a) Unless a force acts, a body will continue with whatever motion it has.
b) If it is stationary (at rest), it will stay stationary.
c) If it is moving, it will continue moving at a steady speed in a straight
line.
d) This property of all bodies, their tendency to go on doing whatever they
are doing, is called inertia.

2. Inertia and Mass

a) The mass of a body is a measure of its inertia.
b) If a body has a small mass, it will have a small inertia; if its mass is
large, then so is its inertia.
c) An empty shopping trolley is easy to push across a floor; it is easy to
start it moving and to stop again. It hasnt got much inertia. But if the
trolley is full of groceries, it is much harder to start and stop. The inertia
is much larger. The trolley full of groceries has a large mass; the empty
trolley has a small mass.

d) Using an inertial balance, if a moving body has large inertia, it will resist
constant changes of motion, and its vibrations will be slower. If the
inertia is small, the vibrations will be faster. When the mass of the

moving object is increased by adding a second identical trolley, or a

second metal cylinder, the period of vibration becomes longer.

e) In an inertial balance experiment, the time for 20 oscillations of the

balance is measured for loads of 1, 2 and 3 units of mass (metal
cylinders). The results are shown in Table 1.

Table 1
An object with unknown mass is then placed in the balance. The time for
20 oscillations with this mass is found to be 6.6 s. The first step is to draw
a graph of the results:

From the graph, a mass of 1.6 units would correspond to a time of 6.6. s
for 20 oscillations. The unknown mass is equivalent to 1.6 of the standard
cylindrical masses.
Conclusion:
Inertia of an object is the tendency of an
object to remain at rest or if moving to
continue its motion in a straight line.
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Newtons First Law of Motion

states that an object continues in its
state of rest or of uniform motion in
a straight line unless compelled by
some external force to act otherwise.
An object with
more mass has
more inertia.
Notes:
1. Stationary objects resist attempts to set them in motion. This can be
seen when you pull a horizontal string fixed to a brick suspended from a
string.
2. We are also aware that a moving object tends to maintain its speed and
direction of motion.
3. When a person paddling a bicycle stops paddling, the bicycle will
continue to move forward and does not stop immediately. To stop the
bicycle the person has to apply the brakes.
4. An object has the tendency to continue in its motion in a straight line
unless acted by an external force.
5. This behaviour of stationary objects to resist attempts to move them or
moving objects to continuing moving is called Inertia
6. It is easier to move and stop the empty tin and more difficult to move or
stop the heavier tin. This shows that the heavier tin has more inertia
The concept of inertia in our daily life.
1. Common trick of the coin and the bottle.
2. Dispensing tomato ketchup of a bottle
3. Fixing the head of a hammer into its holder.
4. A lorry carrying logs has strong chains to tie the logs so that when the
lorry brakes suddenly, the logs do not move forward.
5. Oil tankers have the tanks divided into small compartments to reduce
the effects of inertia of the content in it.
6. Safety belt and air bags are used in cars to protect drivers and front
passengers when accidents happen. They prevent the drivers and front

passenger from being thrown forward.

ACTIVITIES : 50 MINUTES
Activity to show inertia:
Activity 1:
1. Put a cardboard on top of a glass bottle.
Put a coin at the centre of the cardboard.
Pull the cardboard quickly.
a) What happen to the coin when the cardboard
is pulled quickly?

b) Explain what happened.

Activity 2:

Cylindrical weight

Trolley

2. Put a cylindrical weight on a trolley and hold the cylindrical weight in

position by placing it on a thin layer of plasticine.
Push the trolley and allow the trolley to knock a wooden block.
What happen to the cylindrical weight?
a) .
.

b) ..
.
Activity to show the relationship between the mass of a body and its
inertia.
Activity1:
3. Suspend 2 tins

Tin A

sand

Tin B

Fill on of the tins with sand.

Pull the tin with a string and observe which one needs more force to move
it.
Allow both tins to oscillate.
Try stopping the tins.
Which tin needs more force to stop?
(a)
(b)
Activity to show everyday situations involving inertia.
4. Activity 1

(a) What happens to the passengers in a stationary bus if the bus

accelerates quickly?

(b) What happen to the passengers in a moving bus if the bus stops
quickly?

5. Activity 2:
(a) Suggest two ways to reduce the negative effects of inertia on the driver
of a car during an accident.

(b) For an object moving with a uniform velocity, the object will continue to
move with that velocity unless acted upon by an ..
(c) A ball rolling on a horizontal surface will eventually stop. Does this
contradict Newtons first Law of motion? Give the reason for your answer.

(d) What happens to a passenger standing in a moving bus when the bus
suddenly stops? Why?

(e)

Smooth surface

A ball rolls down an inclined plane to a smooth horizontal surface. What

will happen to the ball on the horizontal surface?
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(f) An astronaut throws a stone away from him as shown in the figure
below. What will happen to the stone?

(g) What is the purpose of headrests placed in cars?

Assessment :( 40 minutes)(20 marks)

Objective(In 10 minutes time)(5 marks)
1. Inertia of an object depends on its
A mass
B weight
C mass and weight
2. In the Galileos thought experiment, a ball bearing is allowed to roll on a
curtain rail of different curvatures as shown in the Figure 1.

Figure 1
What is the physics concept that is demonstrated in this experiment?
A Gravitational force acting on the ball bearing
B Inertia of the ball bearing

C Action and reaction pair on the ball bearing and on the rail
D The weight of the ball bearing
3. A person can pull a table cloth with the dishes above remaining on the
table. Which law of motion applies to this popular party tricks?
A Newtons third law of motion
B Newtons second law of motion
C Newtons first Law of motion
D Newtons gravitational law
4. A bus is moving at a uniform speed. A passenger jumps up vertically.
Where will he land on the floor?
A At a position beside his original position
B At a position in front of his original position
C At a position behind his original position
D At the original position
5 If you are sitting in a bus, what will happen to you when the bus
suddenly brakes?
A Suddenly jerks
B Bends backwards
C Remains stationary
D Jumps upwards
E Surges forward

Structure (15 minutes)(9 marks)

1. Figure 2(a)

Figure 2(b)

Figure 2(a) A car is bumped by another car at the back

Figure 2(b) A car stops suddenly
Figure 2 shows two situations of a driver and the decorative accessory that
are hung to the rear-view mirror. Figure 2(a) shows when his car is
bumped at the back by another car and Figure 2(b) shows when his car
stops suddenly after collision. The car in the two situations experiences
great impulsive force. Observe the two situations in Figure 2 carefully.
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Explain what happens to the driver and the decorative accessory that are
hung to the rear view mirror when the car is bumped at the back by
another car and when the car stops suddenly after collision. Give a
conclusion of the situations that are related to a physics concept.
(5 marks)
2. Based on the principle of inertia,
(a) Explain why passengers in a moving car lurch forward when the car
suddenly stops. (2 marks)
(b) State one feature that can lessen the injuries which the driver would
sustain if an accident occurs (2 marks)
Essay (15 minutes) (6 marks)
1.
String X

String Y
A and B are two spheres with weights of 1 kg and 2 kg respectively.
Sphere A is suspended from the ceiling by a string X which is similar to
string Y. Both strings are able to withstand a tensile force of 20 N. Sphere
B is lifted to the same height as sphere A as shown above and sphere B is
then released. Explain what will happen to the system. Provide reasons for
your explanation.
2. Upon arriving at a station, passengers in a train are reminded not to
jump off the train while it is still moving. Based on the principle of inertia,
explain why this reminder is important.
MARKING SCHEME
1. (a) The coin will fall into the glass.
(b) This shows that the inertia of the coin resists anything that tries to
change its state of rest.
2. (a) The cylindrical block will fall backward
(b) The cylindrical block will slide forward. The inertia of the cylindrical
block tends to keep its state of motion.
3. (a) Mass B is bigger therefore it is difficult to move because inertia is
bigger too

4. (a) The passengers are thrown backwards

(b) The passengers are thrown forwards. This is because the
passengers feet are brought to rest, but the inertia of their body
tends to continue its forward motion.
5. (a) fasten seat belt; install air bag inside the steering
(b) external force
(c) No. This is because there is frictional force acting on the ball.
(d) The passenger will be thrown forward. Inertia keeps the passenger
in a state of motion.
(e) The ball continues to move with uniform velocity indefinitely.
(f) The stone moves with uniform speed in a straight line indefinitely
(g) To prevent head injuries during rear-end collisions.
Objectives
1.A
2.B
3.C
4D
5E

Structure
1. When the car is bumped at the back with another car, the driver and the
decorative accessory are moved backwards.
This shows that the driver and the decorative accessory are reluctant to
move forward.
When the car stops suddenly, the driver and the decorative accessory
are moved forward showing that they are reluctant to stop.
The two situations explain the concept of inertia of a body-the tendency
of a body to remain in its state of rest or if moving to continue its state of
motion
2 (a) When a car is suddenly stopped due to collision, the driver and
passengers of the car will be jerked forward due to inertia. This causes
injury or death to them.
(b) seat belts, air bags etc
ESSAY
1.The sphere B falls at a high speed when it is released. A sudden force
acts on string Y. The inertia of stationary sphere A prevents the transfer of
the tension in string Y to string X. As a result, string Y snaps.
2.The passengers in a moving train move at the same velocity as the train.
If a passenger jumps out of a moving train, the inertia of his body

maintains his motion in the direction of the train. As a result, the passenger
falls when he lands on the ground.

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