The table presents the mass and velocity of four objects. Which object exhibits the smallest inertia?

Object | Mass (kg) | Velocity (m/s)
W | 16 | 2
X | 15 | 3
Y | 13 | 20
Z | 2 | 30

1 answer

Inertia is directly related to an object's mass; the more mass an object has, the greater its inertia. The velocity of an object does not directly affect its inertia, but it can influence other concepts like momentum.

To determine which object has the smallest inertia, we simply look at the mass of each object, as inertia is proportional to mass.

Here are the masses from the table:

  • Object W: 16 kg
  • Object X: 15 kg
  • Object Y: 13 kg
  • Object Z: 2 kg

The object with the smallest mass (and thus the smallest inertia) is Object Z, which has a mass of 2 kg.

Therefore, Object Z exhibits the smallest inertia.