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Revolutionizing Motion: The Force and Laws of Motion Paradigm with Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton
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Historically, rest was believed to be the natural state of an object until Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton challenged this belief, introducing a new perspective on force and laws of motion. In daily life, we observe that a force (push, hit, or pull) is needed to change an object’s state of motion, whether to initiate movement, halt it, or modify its velocity.
[Two forces acting on a wooden block]
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Balanced & Unbalanced Forces: Understanding the Dynamics of force and laws of Motion
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- Forces can be either balanced or unbalanced.
- Balanced Force: When two forces of equal magnitude act on an object from opposite directions, they balance out, resulting in no movement of the object.
- Unbalanced Force: However, if the magnitudes differ, the object will move in the direction of the stronger force.
- Example: When children try to push a box on a rough floor, the frictional force counters their pushing force.
- If their force exceeds the frictional force, only then does the box move.
- Similarly, while riding a bicycle, stopping pedaling causes the bicycle to slow down due to frictional forces.
 [Children trying to push a box on a rough floor]
- The continuation of an object’s motion does not always necessitate a continuous application of unbalanced force.
- An object moves with uniform velocity when the forces acting on it are balanced.
- To alter its speed or direction, an unbalanced force must be applied.
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Galileo Galilei: Bridging the Past and Present – Force and Laws of Motion in Motion and Astronomy
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- Galileo’s Observations: His observations led him to deduce that objects continue to move at a constant speed in the absence of an external force.
- Newton’s Law of Motion: Newton further evolved this idea, formulating the three fundamental laws governing motion, now known as Newton’s laws.
- Law of Inertia: The first law, often termed the law of inertia, states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external force.
- Reflects Our Daily Experiences: This principle explains various experiences, such as our tendency to move forward when a car suddenly stops or our inclination to fall backward when a bus starts moving suddenly.
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Inertia and Mass: The Force Behind Objects’ Resistance to Motion – Exploring the Force and Laws of Motion
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- Property of Inertia: All above examples and activities discussed emphasize the resistance an object offers to change its state of motion, a property termed as inertia.
- Rest and Motion Tendencies: Objects at rest tend to remain at rest, and those in motion tend to continue moving.
- Inertia Variation: Not all bodies have the same level of inertia. For instance, pushing an empty box is easier than pushing a box full of books.
- Comparative Inertia: Comparing a football and a stone of similar size, kicking the football is easier and less injurious than trying to kick the stone.
- Coin Activity: In an activity with coins, a five-rupee coin demands more force to move than a one-rupee coin.
- Relationship Between Mass and Inertia: Objects with higher mass, like a train, have more inertia than those with less mass, like a cart.
- Quantitative Measure: The inertia of an object is quantitatively measured by its mass.
- Inertia is the inherent resistance of an object to change its state of motion or rest.
- The object’s mass quantitatively measures this resistance or inertia.
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