Lesson 1: Newton's First Law of Motion



NEWTON’S LESSON1

Newton's First Law of Motion and Inertia

Newton's First Law

In the previous unit on Kinematics, we described motion, in this unit we explain motion.

Isaac Newton (a 17th century scientist) put forth a variety of laws which explain why objects move (or don't move) as they do. These three laws have become known as Newton's three laws of motion.

Newton's first law of motion - sometimes referred to as the law of inertia:

An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

 

The behavior of all objects can be described by saying that objects tend to "keep on doing what they're doing" (unless acted upon by an unbalanced force).

EXAMPLE and DEMO (have two students race each other to get around the classroom): Suppose that you filled a baking dish to the rim with water and walked around the classroom making an attempt to complete a lap in the least amount of time.

The water would have a tendency to spill from the container during specific locations on the track. In general the water when would the water spill?

• the container was at rest and you attempted to move it

• the container was in motion and you attempted to stop it

• the container was moving in one direction and you attempted to change its direction.

The water spills whenever the state of motion of the container is changed.

The water resisted this change in its own state of motion. The water tended to "keep on doing what it was doing."

The container was moved from rest to a high speed at the starting line; the water remained at rest and spilled onto the table. The container was stopped near the finish line; the water kept moving and spilled over container's leading edge. The container was forced to move in a different direction to make it around a curve; the water kept moving in the same direction and spilled over its edge.

This behavior can be explained by Newton’s First Law.

 

Everyday Applications of Newton's First Law

Consider some of your experiences in an automobile.

EXAMPLE: Have you ever observed the behavior of coffee in a coffee cup filled to the rim while starting a car from rest or while bringing a car to rest from a state of motion?

Coffee tends to "keep on doing what it is doing."

What happens when you accelerate from rest? Coffee which is at rest wants to stay at rest; the car accelerates out from under the coffee and the coffee spills in your lap.

What happens when you brake? The coffee continues forward with the same speed and in the same direction, ultimately hitting the windshield or the dash. Coffee in motion tends to stay in motion.

EXAMPLE: Have you ever experienced inertia (resisting changes in your state of motion) in an automobile while it is braking to a stop?

The force of the road on the locked wheels provides the unbalanced force to change the car's state of motion, yet there is no unbalanced force to change your own state of motion.

…..unless acted upon by the unbalanced force of a seat belt. The seat belt provides the unbalanced force which brings you from a state of motion to a state of rest.

What would occur when no seat belt is used?

 

ANIMATION:  The Car and The Wall

ANIMATION: The Truck and the Ladder

 DEMO: Card-N-Coin: I do this using a beaker, index card, and penny. You can purchase a specific set-up for about $30 from any science supply house, but... Place the card ontop of the beaker with the penny ontop of the card in the center of the beaker. Flick the card out as fast as you can. The penny will drop into the beaker. Why? Inertia.

Think about the law of inertia and provide explanations for each application.

• Blood rushes from your head to your feet while quickly stopping when riding on a descending elevator.

• The head of a hammer can be tightened onto the wooden handle by banging the bottom of the handle against a hard surface.

• To dislodge ketchup from the bottom of a ketchup bottle, it is often turned upside down and thrusted downward at high speeds and then abruptly halted.

• Headrests are placed in cars to prevent whiplash injuries during rear-end collisions.

• While riding a skateboard (or wagon or bicycle), you fly forward off the board when hitting a curb or rock or other object which abruptly halts the motion of the skateboard.

 

MISCONCEPTIONS

Prior to Newton's day, most people believed that it was the natural tendency of objects to come to a rest position.

Moving objects, so it was believed, would eventually stop moving; a force was necessary to keep an object moving. But if left to itself, a moving object would eventually come to rest and an object at rest would stay at rest.

[pic]

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.

Forces Don't Keep Objects Moving

Newton's first law of motion declares that a force is not needed to keep an object in motion.

Slide a book across a table and watch it slide to a rest position. The book in motion on the table top does not come to a rest position because of the absence of a force; rather it is the presence of a force - that force being the force of friction - which brings the book to a rest position.

In the absence of a force of friction, the book would continue in motion with the same speed and direction - forever! (Or at least to the end of the table top.) A force is not required to keep a moving book in motion.

In actuality, it is a force which brings the book to rest.

  

Mass as a Measure of the Amount of Inertia

All objects resist changes in their state of motion. All objects have this tendency - they have inertia.

But do some objects have more of a tendency to resist changes than others?

Absolutely yes!

The tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion varies with mass.

The more inertia which an object has, the more mass 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 which offers the least resistance is the brick with the least inertia - and therefore the brick with the least mass (i.e., the Styrofoam brick).

A common physics demonstration relies on this principle that the more massive the object, the more that object tends to resist changes in its state of motion.

The demonstration goes as follows: several massive books are placed upon a teacher's head. A wooden board is placed on top of the books and a hammer is used to drive a nail into the board.

Due to the large mass of the books, the force of the hammer is sufficiently resisted (inertia). This is demonstrated by the fact that the hammer blow is not felt by the teacher. (Of course, this story may explain many of the observations which you previously have made concerning your "weird physics teacher.")

A common variation of this demonstration involves braking a brick over the teacher's hand using the swift blow of a hammer. The massive bricks resist the force and the hand is not hurt. (CAUTION: do not try these demonstrations at home.)

NEWTON’S LESSON 1 HOMEWORK

1. Imagine a place in the cosmos far from all gravitational and frictional influences. Suppose that you visit that place (just suppose) and throw a rock. The rock will

a. gradually stop.

b. continue in motion in the same direction at constant speed.

2. A 2-kg object is moving horizontally with a speed of 4 m/s. How much net force is required to keep the object moving at this speed and in this direction?

3. Mac and Tosh are arguing in the cafeteria. Mac says that if he flings the Jell-O with a greater speed it will have a greater inertia. Tosh argues that inertia does not depend upon speed, but rather upon mass. Who do you agree with? Explain why.

 4. Supposing you were in space in a weightless environment, would it require a force to set an object in motion?

 5. Fred spends most Sunday afternoons at rest on the sofa, watching pro football games and consuming large quantities of food. What effect (if any) does this practice have upon his inertia? Explain.

6. Ben Tooclose is being chased through the woods by a bull moose which he was attempting to photograph. The enormous mass of the bull moose is extremely intimidating. Yet, if Ben makes a zigzag pattern through the woods, he will be able to use the large mass of the moose to his own advantage. Explain this in terms of inertia and Newton's first law of motion.

 7. Two bricks are resting on edge of the lab table. Shirley Sheshort 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 difference will Shirley observe and how can this observation lead to the necessary conclusion?

8. Whiplash sometimes results from an automobile accident when the victim’s car is struck violently from the rear. Explain why the head of the victim seems to be thrown backward in this situation. Is it really? Do headrests really help prevent whiplash injuries? Why?

 

NEWTON’S LESSON 1 HOMEWORK

1. Imagine a place in the cosmos far from all gravitational and frictional influences. Suppose that you visit that place (just suppose) and throw a rock. The rock will

a. gradually stop.

b. continue in motion in the same direction at constant speed.

Answer: According to Newton's first law, the rock will continue in motion in the same direction at constant speed. 

2. A 2-kg object is moving horizontally with a speed of 4 m/s. How much net force is required to keep the object moving at this speed and in this direction?

Answer: 0 N

An object in motion will maintain its state of motion. The presence of an unbalanced force changes the velocity of the object.

3. Mac and Tosh are arguing in the cafeteria. Mac says that if he flings the Jell-O with a greater speed it will have a greater inertia. Tosh argues that inertia does not depend upon speed, but rather upon mass. Who do you agree with? Explain why.

 Answer: Tosh is correct. Inertia is that quantity which depends solely upon mass. The more mass, the more inertia. Momentum is another quantity in Physics which depends on both mass and speed. Momentum will be discussed in a later unit.

 4. Supposing you were in space in a weightless environment, would it require a force to set an object in motion?

 Answer: Absolutely yes!

Even in space objects have mass. And if they have mass, they have inertia. That is, an object in space resists changes in its state of motion. A force must be applied to set a stationary object in motion. Newton's laws rule - everywhere!

5. Fred spends most Sunday afternoons at rest on the sofa, watching pro football games and consuming large quantities of food. What effect (if any) does this practice have upon his inertia? Explain.

Answer: Fred's inertia will increase!

Fred will increase his mass if he makes a habit of this. And if his mass increases, then his inertia increases.

6. Ben Tooclose is being chased through the woods by a bull moose which he was attempting to photograph. The enormous mass of the bull moose is extremely intimidating. Yet, if Ben makes a zigzag pattern through the woods, he will be able to use the large mass of the moose to his own advantage. Explain this in terms of inertia and Newton's first law of motion.

 Answer: The large mass of the bull moose means that the bull moose has a large inertia. Thus, Ben can more easily change his own state of motion (make quick changes in direction) while the moose has extreme difficulty changing its state of motion. Physics for better living!

 7. Two bricks are resting on edge of the lab table. Shirley Sheshort 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 difference will Shirley observe and how can this observation lead to the necessary conclusion?

 The bricks, like any object, possess inertia. That is, the bricks will resist changes in their state of motion. If Shirley gives them a push, then the bricks will offer resistance to this push. The one with the most mass will be the one with the most inertia. This will be the brick which offers the most resistance. This very method of detecting the mass of an object can be used on Earth as well as in locations where gravitational forces are negligible for bricks.

8. Whiplash sometimes results from an automobile accident when the victim’s car is struck violently from the rear. Explain why the head of the victim seems to be thrown backward in this situation. Is it really? Do headrests really help prevent whiplash injuries? Why?

Answer: No, the head is demonstrating Newton’s second law, an object at rest tends to stay at rest. The body is strapped to the car seat which is being violently forced forward, whereas the head is free to stay at rest and therefore the body is being flung forward of the head.

Headrests prevent the head from behaving independently of the body. Therefore as the body is thrust forward by the seat, so to is the head by the headrest preventing whiplash. (Assumes headrest is properly adjusted and head is always touching or very close to the headrest while driving)

 

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