Question

The property of inertia is more in:
(A) a car
(B) a truck
(C) a cart
(D) a toy car

Answer 1

Hint: Any physical object tends to resist a change in its velocity (this includes changes to the object’s speed or direction of motion. In simpler words, Inertia is the inability of a body to change its state of rest or uniform motion by itself.

Complete step by step answer:
The inertia of a body is its inherent property and solely depends on the mass of the body. Hence a body having more mass has greater inertia. Out of all the options provided to us, which include a car, a truck, a cart, and a toy car, a truck has the largest mass hence the property of inertia is more in a truck as compared to the other bodies.

Hence option (B) is the correct answer.

Additional Information: While it’s a common misconception that force is required to keep an object moving, the fact is that no force is needed for continuance of motion. A body continues to be in the same state owing to inertia. A force is needed to bring the body to rest or change the direction of motion. This is of course an ideal situation that neglects any dissipative forces such as friction.
The common experiences we have with inertia in daily life are:
1) We tend to move forward in a moving vehicle when brakes are suddenly applied. Seat belts are thus an indirect application of inertia of our body.
2) We feel a jerk when a lift suddenly starts to move up.

Note: While we usually say that the inertia of a body is dependent on its mass, it’s the other way around. Mass is the quantity that is solely dependent upon the inertia of an object. A body that has a greater tendency to resist a change in its state is more massive.