INERTIA

Monegain, Louise J.                           Park Manor
                                              1-312-962-2670


Objectives

1) Students will learn basic understanding of inertia.
2) Students will demonstrate some activities illustrating inertia.
3) Students will develop a basic understanding of Newton's laws of motion.

Apparatus Needed

Balls various sizes, pie pans with one fourth slice removed, pennies, heavy paper 
circle, checkers, skate board, stuffed animal, glass, two eggs (one boiled, one raw), 
cloth napkin, glass of water and straws. 

Recommended Strategy

Students should have prior knowledge of speed, force, acceleration, gravity and 
friction. Demonstrate inertia by snatching a cloth napkin from under a glass of 
water, and a paper circle from under a checker so that the checker falls into the 
glass and spinning the two eggs. Group students into cooperative groupings to carry 
out the following activities: 

Activity 1 - Place a ball in the pie pan and spin the ball.  Repeat this activity 
using two balls of different mass. 

Activity 2 - Put a ball in motion and try to blow it off of its path with a straw. 
Repeat this activity using balls of various masses. 

Activity 3 - Stack five checkers one on top of the other.  Using your fore-finger 
flick another checker sharply against the bottom checker of the stack to move it from 
pile keeping pile undisturbed. 

Summary

Discuss Newton's first law of motion with students.  Have students answer these three 
questions: 1) How does the pie pan and ball activity help prove the first law of 
motion? 2) Which ball was the hardest to move off of the straight path? 3) Does 
inertia increase with mass?