THE LAW OF INERTIA

The law of inertia states that:

A body will preserve its velocity and direction so long as no
force in its motion's direction acts on it.
For example: a package thrown out of an airplane will continue
to move at the speed of the airplane on the horizontal axis (in
the direction of the airplane's movement). Since the law of
gravity acts on the package (a vertical downward axis), the
package will gather speed along the vertical axis, but on the
horizontal axis its speed will remain equal to that of the
airplane.
(In this explanation we have left out the force of air-resistance).

The law of inertia is the basis of the new physics of the

seventeenth century. This law is also true according to modern
physics. Galileo discovered the law during the first decade of
the seventeenth century, but in fact he did not understand the
law in the general way we have formulated it here. The general
formulation of the law of inertia was devised by Galileo's pupils
and by Descartes - a French philosopher, mathematician and
physicist. This law is also the first of Newton's three laws.
Up to the time of Galileo, it was thought that one must exert
force in order to cause and preserve motion, as claimed by the
physics of Aristotle. Indeed, when we look at the world
surrounding us, we see that in order to continue movement we
must exert force. Thus, for example, in order to conserve the
speed of a car, the engine must work. Objects on which no
force is exerted to preserve their movement eventually come
to a stop. Galileo understood that one can explain the stopping
of bodies by the common experience that we always encounter
a force of friction which resists the motion of bodies. However,
without such resistance force, the bodies would continue to
move at their previous speed.

The law of inertia is also important for Galileo's astronomy. He

used this law to explain why we do not feel the earth's motion,
and especially why objects falling on the surface of the earth
move together with the earth. This explanation is related to the
law of relativity, which is also based on the constant
acceleration of bodies. In this way, Galileo succeeded in
refuting the claims of his opponents, as in the example of the
boat in which Galileo proves the law of inertia. Galileo
suggested a number of additional proofs for this law with the
help of the inclined plane. You will find an additional
explanation next to the globe in the exhibition room.