Newton’s first law of motion, the Law of Inertia, states that, “an object at rest remains at rest, and that an object in motion remains in motion at a constant speed, unless acted on by an unbalanced force.” What can we conclude about the object below? Justify your answer. a. It’s accelerating horizontally b. It’s stopped c. Its velocity is constant. d. It will slow down to a stop

Question

3 to the left, 5kg in the middle, 3 to the right

Answer 1

The object is at rest and balanced since the forces on each side are equal and opposite (3N to the left and 3N to the right). According to Newton's first law of motion, an object at rest will remain at rest unless acted on by an unbalanced force. Since the forces are balanced in this scenario, we can conclude that the object is not accelerating horizontally, it is not stopped, and it is not slowing down to a stop. Therefore, the correct answer is c. Its velocity is constant.