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Newton's first law of motion states that "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion
with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." Objects tend to
"keep on doing what they're doing." In fact, it is the natural tendency of objects to resist changes in their state
of motion. This tendency to resist changes in their state of motion is described as inertia.
Sate of motion
Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion. But what is meant by the phrase
state of motion? The state of motion of an object is defined by its velocity - the speed with a direction. Thus,
inertia could be redefined as follows:
An object at rest has zero velocity - and (in the absence of an unbalanced force) will remain with a zero
velocity. Such an object will not change its state of motion (i.e., velocity) unless acted upon by an unbalanced
force. An object in motion with a velocity of 2 m/s, East will (in the absence of an unbalanced force) remain in
motion with a velocity of 2 m/s, East. Such an object will not change its state of motion (i.e., velocity) unless
acted upon by an unbalanced force. Objects resist changes in their velocity.As learned in an earlier unit, an
object that is not changing its velocity is said to have an acceleration of 0 m/s/s. Thus, we could provide an
alternative means of defining inertia:
From such observations, we conclude that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the
force acting on it.
The acceleration of an object also depends on its mass, as stated in the preceding section. We can understand
this by considering the following experiment. If you apply a force F to a block of ice on a frictionless surface,
the block undergoes some acceleration a. If the mass of the block is doubled, the same applied force produces
acceleration a/2. If the mass is tripled, the same applied force produces acceleration a/3, and so on.
According to this observation, we conclude that the magnitude of the acceleration of an object is inversely
proportional to its mass.
Thus, we can relate mass, acceleration, and force through the following mathematical
F= ma
Definition
Every action has equal reaction which is equal in magnitude but opposite in direction;
P=mv
A=Vf-vi