INERTIA (NEWTON’S FIRST LAW)
The concept of inertia is closely related to motion, it is defined as:
The tendency of an object to continue in its state of rest, or in uniform motion
unless acted upon by an external force
In other words, inertia is an object's resistance to a change in motion
o If an object is at rest, it will tend to remain at rest
o If an object is moving at a constant velocity (constant speed in a straight
line), it will continue to do so
The image below illustrates the concept of inertia using a coin and a cup of
water:
Law of Inertia
When it comes to laws of motion, inertia is one of the greats. Inertia resists change in
motion. Objects want to stay in rest or motion unless an outside force causes a change.
For example, if you roll a ball, it will continue rolling unless friction or something else
stops it by force. You can also think about the way that your body keeps moving forward
when you hit the brake on your bike. Inertia comes in different types, check them out.
Types of Inertia
In inertia, there isn’t just one type. Instead, you’ll find three different types of inertia
including:
Inertia of rest - A body remains at rest due to the inertia (opposing force)
present inside the object until and unless an external force more than the
inertial force is applied to it. (i.e. Dust particles stay at rest until you shake a
carpet.)
Inertia of motion – A body in motion remains in motion until and unless an
external force (maybe brakes, friction, etc) is applied to the body.
Inertia of Direction - A body moving in one direction remains in the same
direction until and unless some force is applied in order to change the direction of
the body.
Mass and Inertia
The tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion varies with mass.
Mass is that quantity that is solely dependent upon the inertia of an object.
The more inertia that an object has, the more mass that it has. A more massive
object has a greater tendency to resist changes in its state of motion
Suppose that there are two seemingly identical bricks at rest on the physics lecture
table. Yet one brick consists of mortar and the other brick consists of Styrofoam.
Without lifting the bricks, how could you tell which brick was the Styrofoam brick? You
could give the bricks an identical push in an effort to change their state of motion. The
brick that offers the least resistance is the brick with the least inertia - and therefore the
brick with the least mass (i.e., the Styrofoam brick).
Inertial mass is the property of an object which describes how difficult it is to change
its velocity
It is defined as the ratio between the force applied to it and the acceleration it
experiences:
force
Inertial mass =
acceleration
F
m=
a
Where:
o m = inertial mass in kilograms (kg)
o F = force in newtons (N)
o a = acceleration in metres per second squared (m/s2)
This equation shows that for a given force, inertial mass is inversely
proportional to acceleration
o Larger inertial masses will experience small accelerations
o Smaller inertial masses will experience large accelerations
Worked examples
1. Which of the following has more inertia:
(i) a rubber ball and a stone of the same size?
(ii) a bicycle and a train?
(iii) a five rupees coin and a one-rupee coin?
Ans: (i) Mass of the stone is more than the mass of the rubber ball as the inertia is
directly proportional to mass. The object having heavier mass will have more inertia that
is, stone will have more inertia than a rubber ball.
(ii) A train is heavier than a bicycle therefore the train will be having more inertia than
bicycle as inertia is directly proportional to mass.
(iii) The mass of one rupee coin is less than the mass of five-rupee coin so as the five-
rupee coin is having more mass than one-rupee coins the five-rupee coin will be having
more inertia than one rupee coin as mass is directly proportional to inertia.
2. What is the net external force acting on a bus moving at 40 kmph on a straight road?
Ans: A bus travelling on a straight road at 40 kmph is in uniform motion along a straight
line. Therefore, the net external force on it is zero.
3. What are the forces acting on a book resting on a table? Why does it stay at rest
despite the forces acting on the book?
Ans: The force acting on the book resting on a table are its weight and the normal force
of the table on the book. It stays at rest since the weight mg and normal force N balance
each other and the net external force acting on the book is zero. Thus, it is at rest and
continues to be at rest.
Practice Questions
1. Inertia is …………………………………………………………………………………..
2. The amount of inertia possessed by an object is dependent solely upon its
__________.
3. Two bricks are resting on edge of the lab table. Shirley stands on her toes and spots
the two bricks. She acquires an intense desire to know which of the two bricks are most
massive. Since Shirley is vertically challenged, she is unable to reach high enough and
lift the bricks; she can however reach high enough to give the bricks a push. Discuss
how the process of pushing the bricks will allow Shirley to determine which of the two
bricks is most massive.
What differences will Shirley observe and how can this observation lead to the
necessary conclusion?
4. Would Shirley be able to conduct this same study if she was on a spaceship in a
location in space far from the influence of significant gravitational forces? _______
Explain your answer.
5. If a moose were chasing you through the woods, its enormous mass would be very
threatening. But if you zigzagged, then its great mass would be to your advantage.
Explain why.
6. Inertia can best be described as _____.
a. the force that keeps moving objects moving and stationary objects at rest.
b. the willingness of an object to eventually lose its motion
c. the force that causes all objects to stop
d. the tendency of any object to resist change and keep doing whatever it's doing