SCIENCE CONCEPT: Newton's First Law of Motion: objects at rest remain at rest and objects in motion remain in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. STUDENT OBJECTIVE: The student will discover a part of Newton's First Law of Motion: an object at rest remains at rest unless acted upon by an outside force. Specifically, the student will learn about inertia. Inertia is the tendency of an object to remain moving in a straight line at a constant speed or to remain stationary. OVERVIEW: The student will use toys to discover that an object in motion remains in motion unless acted upon by an outside force. This will allow the students too observe inertia first hand.

PREPARATION TIME: 5 minutes. LESSON TIME: 15 minutes. TEACHER PREP: Gather materials. WORDS TO KNOW: push roll stop continue motion

The role of inertia is a very important part of motion. It says that an object in motion will tend to stay in motion, and an object at rest will tend to stay at rest, unless a force is applied to the object. When the truck stops suddenly, the stuffed animal continues to move forward. This is why we wear seatbelts and have airbags in our automobiles. In the event of an accident, the passengers still move forward even though the car stops rapidly. If it wasn't for the seatbelts, the person might hit the windshied or worse.

There are numerous ways to demonstrate inertia in our everyday lives. Think of a ball that you role down a hill. If the hill was high enough and long enough the ball would keep rolling once you pushed it down the hill. That is the fascination with Newton's Laws of Motion. If we could create a perfect environment to test his laws, we would be amazed at the outcome.

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Last modified: Tue Mar 24 17:33:44 PST 1998

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