WHY? Objects that are moving tend to keep moving unless acted upon by an outside force. This is called inertia and is part of Newton's First Law of Motion. In this case, the chair will continue spinning until acted upon. When you extend your arms with the phone books, you are more spread out and drag acts to slow you down. When you move the books in toward you, you have less drag acting upon the spinning motion, and you speed up. ASSESSMENT: Can the student communicate what they observed?

The student is able to communicate that the spinning sped up and slowed down because an outside force (drag) acted upon the inertia of the chair. The student is able to communicate that drag did something to the chair. The student is able to communicate that inertia kept the chair spinning. The student is able to communicate that the chair sped up and slowed down.

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Last modified: Tue Mar 24 16:58:38 PST 1998

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