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INERTIA

The seat belts in a car will become tight if the car stops quickly
You can tear a piece off the end of a kitchen roll without holding the roll if you give it a sharp pull

Both these are examples of INERTIA. All objects have inertia. The more massive they are the more inertia they have.

INERTIA is the reluctance of an object to change the way in which it is moving. If it is still it stays still and if it is moving it carries on moving unless a force acts on it.



If a car stops really suddenly the people inside it will carry on moving forwards and so be thrown forward.


You can also show the effects of inertia by knocking away the bottom block from a pile of wooden blocks using a sharp blow with a hammer without moving the others. The blocks have inertia and there is not enough force on the rest of the pile to start moving.

 
 
 
© Keith Gibbs 2011