2. Place a glass of water on piece of A4 paper.

2.4

When we stood in a bus which starts suddenly

from rest, we are likely to fall backward. If the
moving bus stop suddenly, we are likely to fall What will happen to the glass of water if you
forward. What cause this two situation to occur? suddenly pull the paper horizontally.
The glass of water remains at rest.

Explain your observation.

The inertia of the glass with water wants to
remain at rest. So it will still stationary
without following the paper.

3. Place a block of wood on top of a trolley. Let

the trolley moves down the runway. Stop the
The two situations above show that our body has motion of the trolley with a book.
an inbuilt resistance to any change in its state of
rest or motion. This reluctance to change is
called inertia.

What is inertia?
Inertia is the tendency of an object to remain
at rest or, if moving, to continue its motion in Observe what happens to the wooden block.
a straight line at uniform velocity. The wooden block falls forward.

Explain your observation.

Newton’s first law:
The wooden block moves together with the
trolley. When the trolley stopped by the
An object will remain at rest or move at
book, the inertia of the wooden block wants
uniform velocity unless acted upon by an
to remain moving forward. It falls forward
external force.
when the trolley stops.

4. Use a hammer to pulled out a wooden block

Activity 1:
from its central location.
Aim: To do activities involving inertia

1. Place a cardboard on top of a glass and put a

coin. Flick the card horizontally with your
finger.

What happen to the other wooden blocks

ontop of the block which is pulled out.
The other wooden blocks on the top fall
What happens to the coin? down.
The coin drops straight into the glass
Explain your observation.
Explain the observation above. Inertia of the blocks want to remain at rest.
The inertia of the coin maintains its state at rest.
The coin falls into the glass due to gravity.

If the cardboard is pulled slowly, the coin moves

with the cardboard because the frictional force
acts on the coin. When there is an external force
acts the coin will move.

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Activity 2: Activity 3:
Aim: To relate mass to inertia Aim: To explain situation related to inertia

1. Passengers in a bus will lurch backwards

when a stationary bus starts to move with
forward acceleration. Why?

1(a) Which one is easier to move, a lighter trolley

(diagram a) or a heavier trolley (diagram b)?
The lighter trolley is easier to move.

(b) Which trolley has greater inertia? Expain The inertia of the passenger wants to remain at
your answer. rest. When the bas moves forward suddenly, he
The heavier trolley has greater inertia. It has
will lurch backwards.
greater mass and difficult to move.

2. (a) Hang two cans to a ceiling. 2. Passengers in a moving bus lurch forward
when the bus comes to a halt suddenly.
Why?

The passenger moves together with the bas.

When the bus stops suddenly, the inertia of the
passenger still wants to remain moving. As the
result he lurches forward when the bus stop.
(b) Push each can. Which can is easier to
move? 3. Why the tomato sauce can be
The empty can easily poured out if the bottle
is moved down fast with a
(c) Let the two cans swing. sudden stop?
(i) Which can is easier to stop? The sauce moves together with
The empty can the bottle. When the bottle stops
suddenly, the inertia of the source
(ii) Which can has higher inertia? continues to move and poured out
The can with sands of the bottle.

(iii) State the relationship between inertia and 4. You can securely tight the
mass. head of hammer by knocking
The greater the mass, the greater the it handle on a hard surface.
inertia. Explain by using the concept
of inertia.
(iv) What is the physics quantity which The head of hammer is moving
describe inertia? together with the handle as it
Mass moves down. When the handle
is stopped suddenly, the inertia
of the head of hammer still want to move forward.
So the top end of the handle will slotted deeper
into the hammer head.

2
5. If your are chased by a Safety in a car: Headrest to prevent
cow, how you will run? ‘Headrest” injuries to the neck
Why? during rear-end
Run away from a cow in a collisions.
zig zag motion.
The cow has a large inertia
making it difficult to change
direction.

6. Wet umbrella can be dried by moving it very Safety in a car: An air bag is fitted
fast and then stop suddenly. Explain. Air bag inside the steering
The water droplet moves together with the wheel. It provides a
umbrella. When the umbrella is stopped cushion to prevent
suddenly, the inertia of the droplet continues its the driver from
state of motion and left the umbrella. hitting the steering
wheel or dashboard
during collision.

Furniture carried by a lorry When the lorry starts

normally is tighted up to move suddenly,
together by string. the furnitures are
more difficult to fall
off due to their inertia
because their
combined mass has
7. Explain why the increased.
massive oil tanker
takes a long time and a
few kilometers to come The oil tank of an oil The mass of the oil is
to a stop. tanker lorry is usually divided into smaller
The tanker has great mass. divided into a few smaller masses. This
The big inertia causes it compartments reduces the forward
difficult to stop the tanker. inertia of the oil in
each compartment
Activity 4: when the oil tank
Aim: Explain ways to reduce the negative effects stops suddenly.
of inertia

Ways to reduce explanation Experiment 2.2

Safety in a car: Secure the driver to
Seat belt their seats. When the Inference:
car stops suddenly, Inertia of an object depends on its mass.
the seat belt provides
the external force Hypothesis: The larger the mass of an object, the
that prevents the larger the period of oscillation.
driver from being
thrown forward. Aim: To study the relationship between mass and
period of oscillation.

Manipulated variable: Mass, m

Responding variable: Period of oscillation, T

Fixed variable: distance between G-clamp and the

plasticine

Apparatus & material: Stopwatch, G-clamp, ruler,

jigsaw blade, plasticine of mass 20 g, 30 g, 40 g,
50 g and 60 g.

3
Arrangement of apparatus:
Tabulate your data for all values of m,t, T dan T2.

Mass Time for 10 complete

m/g oscillation, t /s T/s T2 / s 2
t1 / s t2 /s tave /s
20.0

30.0

Prosedure: 40.0
Methode to control manipulated variable:
Fix a piece of 20.0 g plasticine to the free end of 50.0
the jigsaw blade.
Displace the free end of the jigsaw blade 60.0
horizontally and release it so that the plasticine
oscillates.
Plot graph T2 against m.
Methode to measure responding variable:
Record the time, t1 for 10 complete oscillations. Conclusion:
Repeat steps 3 and 4 and record the time as t2 T2 is directly proportional to mass, m
Calculate taverage = (t1 + t2)/2 The greater the mass, m, the greater the period of
Calculate period, T = taverage oscillation, T.
10 The greater the mass, m, the greater the inertia.
Method of repeating:
Repeat the experiment with mass of plasticine Precaution:
30.0 g, 40.0 g, 50.0 g and 60.0 g. The eyes must be perpendicular the scale of the
stopwatch.
Start the oscillation and then start the stopwatch.

4
TUTORIAL 2.4
1. Which of the following statements is true? 5. Which vehicle has the largest inertia? D
A. Inertia is the gravity pull on the mass.
B. Inertia is the acceleration of body which
moves linearly
C. Inertia is a property of a body that resists a
change in the state of rest or motion of the
body.

2. A student did an experiment as shown with

sand. Which of the following showed the
correct observation?

6. The diagram shows a pillion rider moving

backwards when the motorcycle
accelerates.

A. It was difficult to start Q moving but easy to

stop it moving.
B. It was easy to start P moving but difficult to
stop P moving 7.
C. It was difficult to start Q moving and to The backwards movement of the
stop it moving. pillion rider can be explained by (2005)
D. It was difficult to start P moving and to stop A. the concept of inertia
it moving. B. the concept of equilibrium of forces
C. principle of conservation of momentum
3. A body stays stationary, or continue to D. principle of conservation of energy.
move with a uniform velocity, unless there
is an external force that changes its state
of motion. Which law is explained by the 8. Diagram shows the position of a plate
above statement? (2009) before and after the table cloth is snatched
A. Newton’s first law of motion away.
B. Newton’s second law of motion
C. Newton’s third law of motion

4. What should he do to leave the merry-go-

round in order not to fall down?

The plate remains stationary due to ……

A. inertia
B. impulse
C. momentum
D. linear motion

When he lands on the ground,

A. he should bend his legs.
B. he should keep moving a few steps
forwards.
C. he should keep moving a few step
backward.
D. he should quickly stop moving.

5
 9. Which phenomenon shows the effect of
inertia? (2012) D

10. Two identical blocks, R and S, placed on

trolleys P and Q respectively.

What happens to the wooden blocks R and S

when trolley P collides with the stationary
trolley Q? (2010)

R S
A Pushed to the right Pushed to the right
B Pushed to the right Pushed to the left
C Pushed to the left Pushed to the left
D Pushed to the left Pushed to the right

11. Two student are skating towards P.

What will happen to the girl when the boy releases

her hand? (2005)
A. Stays stationary
B. Moves towards P
C. Moves towards Q