From Energy to Force to Motion - Science Connection

Posted by Sandie lee On Saturday, January 28, 2012 0 comments

Tom looks at his pencil on the top of his desk. It does nothing. It is in a state of rest. He flicks it with his index finger and it rolls to a new place a few inches away. Tom may not realize it, but he is demonstrating one of the most important laws of motion. Objects which are at rest stay at rest until a force acts on them and causes them to move.

Motion Requires Force

Motion does not happen unless there is a force acting on an object. Objects that are in a state of rest resist change. This resistance is called inertia. If there were no forces pushing or pulling objects, everything would be at rest all the time. There would be no movement! When energy creates a force to make an object move, it is call work. If an object is not moving, it is not doing work. But when the object moves, energy has caused its force to do work. READ MORE...