Inertia and Newton's First Law of Motion

What does 'change in motion' mean? What caused the change in motion of your icon in class (or in the applet below)? What was the effect of friction on the motion of your icon? Using the program below, turn on friction and use the N, S, E, or W keys to make the donut move with a constant velocity. Explain how you achieved your result. Draw a picture of the velocity versus time graph and point out: i) where the donut was accelerating; ii) where the donut was at a constant velocity; iii) where the donut was at rest. Pretend you're in a train with no windows (you can't see outside) and the train tracks are completely smooth and flat. Is it possible to tell if the train is moving at a constant velocity or at rest? Explain your answer (use the program from class or above to help your explanation.)

To use the program, first click on GO. Next, click on N, E, S, or W to get the donut going. Use the controls to change the amount of force (how hard you push!), the strength of friction, etc. There are velocity and acceleration versus time graphs, too.

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view/download model file: Newtonia31.nlogo

Newtonia comes from Walter Stroup's websites on generative design