Forces and Motion

Aristotle:
Natural Motion:
light objects rise,
heavy objects fall

Violent Motion:
motion contrary to
an objects nature,
requires an
external force
Summary of Aristotles view:

Velocity of object is dependent on the size
of the external force applied

Forces cause velocities
Galileo:
Objects fall at
same rate
regardless of mass

Ball rolling down a
ramp accelerates
Galileos Thought
Experiment

Very smooth ball rolling
between 2 smooth
ramps:

How far does the ball roll
without the 2
nd
ramp?

Forever, at constant
speed

Newtons First Law
of Motion (aka Law
of Inertia)

Objects at rest tend
to stay at rest,
objects in motion to
stay in motion at the
same speed
unless acted upon by
an external force
(e.g. friction)
Inertia:
property of matter the tendency of
matter to resist change in motion

The greater the mass, the greater its
inertia
(e.g. harder to get a grand piano moving
from rest, but harder to stop it once its
moving)
Summary of Newtons view:

Objects moving at constant velocity do not
require an external force to maintain the
motion.
An external force exerted on an object will
cause it to speed up or slow down

Forces cause changes in
velocities