Newton's First Law

Today we started learning about different kinds of forces, and Newton's first law of motion.

Force can be defined as a push or pull, and an example of a "normal" force would be gravity, or your weight. You are constantly being pushed down by gravity, but it's being balanced by the force of the ground beneath your feet, keeping you in equilibrium. Normal force is defined as a supporting force that is perpendicular to the surface the object (in this case, you) are on.

Newton's first law of motion is the law of inertia.

-Objects in motion will tend to stay in motion, unless acted upon by an outside, unbalanced force.

-Objects at rest will tend to stay at rest, unless acted upon by an outside, unbalanced force.

The photo above is an example of this law. When you pull the paper out from under the pen, if you do it fast enough, the pen will stay still because it wants to stay inert.