Describe in brief an activity to illustrate the property of inertia of rest.
Answer:
- Make a pile of similar carom coins on a table, as shown in figure.
- Attempt a sharp horizontal hit at the bottom of the pile using another carom coin or the striker. If the hit is strong enough, the bottom coin moves out quickly. Once the lowest coin is removed, the inertia of the other coins makes them ‘fall’ vertically on the table.
- The inertia of coins tries to maintain its state of rest even when one of the coin moves out.