Name: _______________________________ Date: __________________ Hour: __________________

Vocabulary

Chapter 2.1-2.5: Newton’s First Law of Motion- The Law of Inertia

Read the following passage carefully and use context clues to determine the
meaning of the underlined words.

In the early 1500s the Italian scientist Galileo demolished a long accepted belief
by Aristotle that heavy things fall faster than light things by dropping
heavy and light objects from the Leaning Tower of Pisa. He showed
that except for the effects of air drag, objects of different weights fell to
the ground at the same time. Galileo also made another huge
discovery. He showed that Aristotle was also wrong about force being
necessary to keep objects moving. Galileo said that a force is required
to start an object moving, but once moving no force is required to keep
it moving- except for the force need to overcome friction. To test the
property of inertia, Galileo rolled balls along flat plane surfaces tilted
at different angles. He noted that a ball rolling down an inclined plane
picks up speed, and a ball rolling up slows down- both due to gravity.
On a horizontal plane the ball maintained a constant speed. Galileo
reasoned that the external forces of friction and gravity the balls would remain moving
forever.
Isaac Newton was born the year Galileo died. He extended Galileo’s concept of
inertia and made it into a law that underlies all motion. Newton’s first law (or law of
inertia) is a restatement of Galileo’s idea. An example of the
law in action is the classic tablecloth-and-dishes
demonstration. Be sure to pull the tablecloth slightly
downward so there is no upward component of force on the
dishes!

When an object is moving at a constant speed it is

neither speeding up nor slowing down. A car traveling down
a highway at 60 mph has a constant speed and velocity. As soon as that same car
slightly turns at a bend in the road it may still have a constant speed, but no longer has
a constant velocity (velocity is a vector quality).
1. Inertia
a. I think the word inertia means: __________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Have you heard the word inertia used before? ______________________
Where? ____________________________________________________
c. The definition of inertia is ______________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. I could use inertia in the following sentence (situation): _______________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

2. Speed
a. I think the word speed means: __________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Have you heard the word speed used before? ______________________
Where? ____________________________________________________
c. The definition of speed is ______________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. I could use speed in the following sentence (situation): _______________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

3. Newton’s First Law

a. I think Newton’s First Law is: ____________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Have you heard Newton’s First Law used before? ___________________
Where? ____________________________________________________
c. Newton’s First Law is _________________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. I could use Newton’s First Law in the following sentence (situation): _____
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________

4. Velocity
a. I think the word velocity means: _________________________________
___________________________________________________________
b. Have you heard the word velocity used before? _____________________
Where? ____________________________________________________
c. The definition of velocity is _____________________________________
___________________________________________________________
d. I could use velocity in the following sentence (situation): ______________
___________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________________