Chapter 4: Newton's First Law of Motion—Inertia

ARISTOTLE ON MOTION

Physics
Curious about Aristotle's ideas of motion? Why not read the original work? Check out the entire text of Aristotle's Physics from MIT's Classics Archive. It was written circa 350 B.C. and translated by R. P. Hardie and R. K. Gaye.

Researching Physicists and the History of Physics with the Internet
Use this interactive list of Internet research techniques to find information about current and past physicists and the history of physics. This document must be viewed with Adobe® Acrobat™ Reader. Open the document, and click on the Bookmarks on the left to locate the six topics.

COPERNICUS AND THE MOVING EARTH

Copernican Revolution
This is a hyperlinked time line of the important events of the Copernican Revolution provided by the Astronomy Department of Sonoma State University.

GALILEO ON MOTION

Galileo on Motion
Set your time machine for the year 1600 and travel in back in time to converse with Galileo Galilei. For conversations with other famous physicists from the past, visit The Wizard's Lab.

NEWTON'S LAW OF INERTIA

Newton's First Law of Motion
According to Newton's first law, all objects "keep on doing what they're doing." What does this statement mean? Find out by reading this chapter from The Physics Classroom.

The Car and The Wall
What happens to the unseatbelted driver of a sports car when the car crashes into a brick wall? Find out by viewing this GIF animation from the Multimedia Physics Studios. Also check out The Truck and The Ladder and The Motorcyclist for other animations illustrating Newton's law of inertia.

MASS—A MEASURE OF INERTIA

Inertia and Mass
Mass is not volume. Mass is not weight. What is mass? This lesson from The Physics Classroom will explain.

NET FORCE

Net Force Problems
The combination of all forces acting on an object is called the net force. Check your understanding of the concept of net force in this interactive lesson from The Physics Classroom.

EQUILIBRIUM—WHEN NET FORCE EQUALS ZERO

Balanced and Unbalanced Forces
Check your understanding of balanced and unbalanced forces in this interactive tutorial from The Physics Classroom.

VECTOR ADDITION OF FORCES

Motion in Two Dimesions
The study of motion in two dimensions is all about reducing a two-dimensional force into one. This lesson from the Learn Physics Today online tutorial offers an excellent introduction to the vector addition of forces.

Unit 1: Learning Links
Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Chapter 7, Chapter 8, Chapter 9, Chapter 10, Chapter 11
Chapter 12, Chapter 13, Chapter 14, Chapter 15, Chapter 16