Consider a ball at rest on the middle of a toy wagon. When a wagon is pulled forward, the ball rolls against the back of the wagon. Interpret this observation in terms of Newton's First Law of Motion.
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Newton's First Law of Motion, also known as the law of inertia, states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force.
In the case of the ball on the toy wagon, when the wagon is pulled forward, a force is applied to the wagon. However, initially, the ball resists this change in motion due to its inertia. Since the ball was at rest and has the tendency to stay at rest, it does not immediately start moving forward with the wagon. Instead, it maintains its position, and as the wagon accelerates forward, it rolls against the back of the wagon.
This observation demonstrates Newton's First Law of Motion because, due to the ball's initial state of rest, it requires an external force (in this case, the friction between the ball and the wagon) to change its state of motion. Once the ball starts rolling, it continues to roll in the same direction at the same speed as the wagon, as there are no other forces acting on it to change its motion.