Question 10 (1 point)

Question

The picture shows a physics lab set up.

When the index card is quickly pulled away from the glass in a horizontal direction, why does the disk fall straight down into the glass?

a
inertia
b
static friction
c
equilibrium
d
kinetic friction

Answer 1

The correct answer is a) inertia.

When the index card is pulled away quickly, the disk remains at rest due to its inertia. Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion. Since the disk is not being acted upon by any significant horizontal force when the card is removed, it does not have enough horizontal momentum to follow the movement of the card and instead falls straight down into the glass.