Inertia, Simple Right?

The idea of inertia is pretty simple, objects like to keep moving or doing what they are doing.  If an object wants to stay still, it will want to stay still.

Everyone says that it was Isaac Newton who was the first person to think of gravity and inertia.  He was actually very honest about telling whom ever he could that his ideas were built upon the ideas and works of scientists that lived before him and during his lifetime.  He said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Newton gets credit for the principle of inertia but he is very humble about how he came about making up that principle.

The Law of Inertia:  Kind of strange, but we say "inertia" like "in-NER-sha".  This is a Latin word that means "inert" or "lazy".  Inertia describes the natural "laziness" all objects have.  Look at your dog, if you don't have food in your hand, or the leash dangling from your fingers, the dog is laying around on the carpet!  Right? 

Hasn't your mom or dad yelled at you, "Put the video controller down and go out and play!"  You would prefer to be "inert", unmoving, and playing your games...because stopping would require some work.  You have to end the game, turn of the console, put your things away so your siblings won't destroy or drool all over your expensive controller.  It's easier to stay put!!

So this idea of objects moving or sitting still has been around for over 2000 years.  Aristotle observed that objects in motion did not want to remain in motion, but wanted to go back to resting.  It was YEARS later that Galileo concluded that objects in motion on a level surface would continue in the same direction at a constant speed unless they were disturbed by something. This idea has formed a lot of our modern day ideas about motion. 

Newton's Law of Inertia:  "An object in motion stays in motion until it gets hit by something!"

Simple, right?