Inertia

[Danlee07]

---

Members don't see this ad.

How are walking up and down the stairs and walking examples of inertia?

I thought you are making yourself move. Or is it the fact that since there's no outside force on your body with your body being the object...that means it's at constant velocity so you're at inertia?

I don't get walking so i definitely don't get up & down the stairs...

 

[Fifty 3rds]

Not sure if it's a perfect example.

Once you are set into motion, it requires a force to stop that motion. End of story. Inertia includes mass as well. You have mass, you meet that requirement.

 

[puravida85]

How are walking up and down the stairs and walking examples of inertia?

I thought you are making yourself move. Or is it the fact that since there's no outside force on your body with your body being the object...that means it's at constant velocity so you're at inertia?

I don't get walking so i definitely don't get up & down the stairs...

This one is beyond me because there are too many systems to think about. Perhaps it was just a simple explanation to get a rough idea of inertia. Like, If i'm on a stairway and I begin to walk down, it's likely that I am going to just keep walking down cause I have interia/momentum. But if I want to go back up, I have to apply a "force" to work against my natural tendency to go downstairs. So I have to have a change in momentum (an impulse). These all have to do with inertia. It's sort of like when a sports announcer says, "This team's got momentum!" Not exactly physics (unless they are running), but simply its metaphoric. Yikes, that was a stretch. It was fun though haha.

 

[fizzgig]

i think fifty is correct, it really is as simple as you have mass and you're moving. if you're walking downstairs it's easier to see, but even if you're going upstairs, the INSTANT you stop putting force into moving, you have a little momentum because your weight was already going in the upward direction. it takes a bit (very very small in this case) amt of time for gravity to slow, stop, and reverse your motion just like you were a ball thrown upwards. if you think of running upstairs maybe it's easier - here you're putting in even more work but you could see how as you spring off of a lower step you could be totally limp once your foot leaves the ground, but you'll continue traveling upward for a sec... before you crash on your face. make sense?

 

[Danlee07]

cool thanks

 

[Longshanks]

Try running down a flight of stairs, and attempt to stop on a dime on one step. This will explain inertia.

 

[mynamehere]

was this post supposed to go get up and try running up and down the stairs at midnight? haha

 

[Longshanks]

was this post supposed to go get up and try running up and down the stairs at midnight? haha

It was meant tongue-in-cheek, but mainly just to get oneself to think about the situation and inertia in practical albeit comedic terms.