NEWTONS

FIRST LAW OF
MOTION
Law of Inertia

INTRODUCTION TO NEWTONS
LAWS OF MOTION
The first law of motion states that an object will
remain at rest or continue to move in a straight line
at a constant speed, unless a resultant force acts on
it.
2. The second law states that the acceleration of an
object produced by a net force is directly proportional
to the magnitude of the net force, and inversely
proportional to the mass of the object. Meaning
Force=Mass
Acceleration
3. The third law states that for
every action there is an equal
and opposite reaction.
1.

TERMS YOULL BE NEEDING:

Velocity: The rate of change of an objects position
with time.
Constant Velocity: Velocity is Constant when the net
force acting on an object is zero.
Net Force: The vector sum of all forces acting on an
object.
Vector Sum: The total amount of quantities
possessing both magnitude and direction.

CONTINUED
Friction: The force that opposes the motion of
an object
Inertia
o It is NOT a FORCE
o the tendency of an object to resist a change in
whatever state of motion that it currently has.
o Any object with mass has inertia
o The greater the mass, the bigger the inertia
and vice versa

FURTHER EXPLANATION: 1
LAW OF MOTION

ST

The first part of the first law of motion states that an object at rest will remain
in rest until an external force is applied to it.
The behavior of all objects can be described by saying that objects tend to
"keep on doing what they're doing" (unless acted upon by an unbalanced
force).

The ball is the

object in rest

When a force is applied to

the ball, it starts to move
and will continue moving
until another force is
applied to stop it.

OBJECTS IN EQUILIBRIUM
If two forces are acting in a mass such that it is not
in equilibrium then to produce equilibrium a third
force can be added that is equal in magnitude of
the resultant to the other two, but in opposite
direction

*IT IS NOT POSSIBLE THAT

THERE IS NO FORCE
ACTING ON AN OBJECT ON
EARTH, AS GRAVITY
ALWAYS ACTS ON THEM
AN OBJECT MOVING
WITH CONSTANT
VELOCITY IS ALSO IN
EQUILIBRIUM!

Different Examples for the 1st law of

motion
2

Weight

Box
Normal
reaction

The object is
stationary
or in an equilibrium

Horizontal Motion
at constant
velocity
Normal Reaction

Pulling Force

Friction

Weight

Vertical Motion of falling

objects

Horizontal Acceleration
Air restistance

Weight
Air resistance
Air

resistance

Normal Reaction

Normal Reaction
Force from road
Weight

REAL LIFE EXAMPLE

REVIEW QUESTIONS
True or False
a) Inertia is a force.
b) Inertia is a force which keeps stationary objects at rest and moving
objects in motion at constant velocity.
c) Inertia is a force which brings all objects to a rest position.
d) All objects have inertia.
e) A more massive object has more inertia than a less massive object.
f) Fast-moving objects have more inertia than slow-moving objects.
g) An object would not have any inertia in a gravity-free environment (if
there is such a place).
h) Inertia is the tendency of all objects to resist motion and ultimately stop.
i) In a gravity-free environment (should there be one), a person with a lot of
inertia would have the same ability to make a turn as a person with a
small amount of inertia.

ANSWERS

a) False - Inertia is NOT a force.

b) False - Inertia is not a force.
c) False - Inertia is not a force. Inertia is simply the tendency of an objects to resist a
change in whatever state of motion that it currently has. Put another way, inertia
is the tendency of an object to "keep on doing what it is doing." Mass is a measure
of an object's inertia. The more mass which an object has, the more that it
sluggish towards change.
d) True - Bet money on this one. Any object with mass has inertia. (Any object
without mass is not an object, but something else like a wave.)
e) True - Mass is a measure of an object's inertia. Objects with greater mass have a
greater inertia; objects with less mass have less inertia.
f) False - The speed of an object has no impact upon the amount of inertia that it
has. Inertia has to do with mass alone.
g) False - Inertia (or mass) has nothing to do with gravity or lack of gravity. In a
location where g is close to 0 m/s/s, an object loses its weight. Yet it still maintains
the same amount of inertia as usual. It still has the same tendency to resist
changes in its state of motion.
h) False - Inertia is NOT the tendency to resist motion, but rather to resist changes in
the state of motion. For instance, its the tendency of a moving object to keep
moving at a constant velocity (or a stationary object to resist changes from its
state of rest).

WORKED EXAMPLE

What is the coefficient of friction for the two surfaces represented on the graph?
Chart Title
4.5
4
3.5
3
2.5

Maximum static frictional Force Fmax/N

2
1.5
1
0.5
0

Normal Reaction Force R/N

10

2. Assuming the results were obtained for apparatus like that shown in the
following picture, what minimum force woud be needed to move a block of
total mass
a) 200g
b) 2000g
c) Why
Wooden is
blockthe answer to b) unreliable?
Force meter
pull

3. Estimate a value for the dynamic frictional force fpr the same
apparatus with a
200 g mass
a) For movement at 1ms-1
b) For movement at 2ms-1

Answers
1. =Fmax/R =4/10 =40 (equal to the gradient)
2. a) F1= sR = smg = 0,4*0,2*9,81= 0,78N
b) 0,4*2*9,81=7,8N
c) Because the answer is extrapolated rom well outside the
range of
experimental results shown on the graph
3.
a) We would expect the dynamic frictional force to be a little
smaller
than the maximum static frictional force, say
about 0,6 N instead of 0,78 N
b) The dynamic frictional force is usually assumed to be
independent of speed, so the force would still be about 0,6 N
at the higher speed.