Inertia of rest is the tendency of an object to remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force. It is a fundamental concept of Newton’s First Law of Motion, which states that an object will not change its state of motion unless an external force is applied.
Examples of Inertia of Rest:
- Dust particles on a carpet – When you beat a carpet with a stick, the carpet moves, but the dust particles remain at rest and fall off due to inertia of rest.
- A passenger in a stationary bus – When the bus suddenly starts moving, passengers feel a backward jerk because their bodies tend to remain at rest.
- A coin on a card over a glass – If you flick a card placed over a glass with a coin on top, the card moves away, but the coin falls straight into the glass due to inertia of rest.
This property of inertia is due to mass, meaning the greater the mass of an object, the stronger its inertia of rest.
Aditya Raj Anand Changed status to publish March 7, 2025
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