Inertia

Inertia

The property of matter by which it continues in its existing state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line unless acted on by an external force. Sometimes referred to as momentum, inertia is a property of matter that allows for scientists to describe how motion is changed by forces. It is the natural tendency of objects to remain in motion or to remain at rest.

The Main Idea

Newton challenged past assertions regarding laws of motion with his concept that objects in motion tend to stay in motion unless acted on by an external force. This is antithetical to the prior thought that objects naturally come to a state of rest.

---

Calculating Inertia

Momentum is conserved by ::[math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net}{Δt} }[/math] .

Examples

Basic Inertia

Inertia, or momentum, of an object is calculated by multiplying the velocity by the mass.

For example, a car that weighs 3000 kilograms is moving at a velocity of 120 kilometers per hour. What is the inertia of the car?

---

History

Galileo performed an experiment with two ramps and a bronze ball. To begin, the two were set up at the same angle. Galileo observed that if a ball was released at one height, it would roll to the same height at which the ball was released. He then experimented with altering the angle of the second ramp. He concluded that even though it may take longer, when the angle is smaller, the ball will still roll up to the same height. Because the height was conserved, Galileo believed that if a ball was rolled from a ramp to a flat surface, it would stay in motion unless a force stopped it, such as friction.

This

See also

Are there related topics or categories in this wiki resource for the curious reader to explore? How does this topic fit into that context?

Further reading

Books, Articles or other print media on this topic

External links

[1]

References

This section contains the the references you used while writing this page