Newton's First Law of Motion for Kids - Momentum and inertia

Newton's First Law of Motion

Soccer
Kicking the ball illustrates
Newton's First Law of Motion

About 1000 AD, Ibn Sina came up with the idea that an object moving in a vacuum would just keep moving forever without slowing down. In the 1700s, Isaac Newton figured out a way to prove this was true using mathematics.

Newton's First Law of Motion tells us that

An object in motion tends to remain in motion, and an object at rest tends to remain at rest.

If you were out in space and you gave a rock a push, its momentum would keep the rock moving at the same speed in the same direction until it bumped into something. On the other hand, if you put a rock in space and left it there not moving, its inertia would keep it right there, hanging in space, forever (or until something bumped into it or it came under gravitational or magnetic pull).


Mass Effect explains Newton's First Law of Motion

On Earth, objects don't really remain in motion, because friction slows them down, and gravity pulls them toward the ground.

To find out more about movement, check out these books from Amazon.com or from your library:

Why did people want to punch Socrates?

Click here to find out!

Where did Egyptians bury your liver?

Click here to find out

How old are the Rocky Mountains?

Click here to find out

What does a half-timbered house look like?

Click here to find out

How do you spin wool?
(a project)

Click here to find out


Gravity
Momentum
Friction
Physics
Science for Kids home page
History for Kids home page