Question

Which Newton’s law is related to Galileo's law of inertia?
A) Second B) First C) First and second D) Third

Answer 1

Hint: Galileo’s law of inertia relates the change in state of motion of a body with a property of the body known as inertia. It states that a body remains in the same state of motion if no net force acts on it.

Complete step-by-step answer:
Galileo related the state of motion or rest of a body with a property of the body known as its inertia. He stated in his Law of inertia that a body continues to remain in the same state of motion (rest or otherwise) until and unless a net force acts on it to overcome the inertia of the body. The inertia of the body tries to resist any change in its state of motion. The inertia of a body with greater mass is more than that of a body with lower mass.
Newton’s first law of motion is also quite similar and can be considered as a restatement of Galileo’s law of inertia. It states that a body continues to remain in a state of uniform motion or rest until and unless an external unbalanced force acts on it. This unbalanced external force will try to change its state of rest or uniform motion.
Hence, as we can see Newton’s first law of motion is related to Galileo’s law of inertia. Therefore, the correct option is B) First.
Note: Students might think that both the first and the second laws relate to Galileo’s law of inertia. The second law gives the mathematical expression of the external force and the acceleration of the body. If the acceleration is zero, net force on the body has to be zero. Therefore, a net non-zero external force is required to change the state of motion of a body. Hence, it only serves to prove Galileo’s law of inertia and Newton’s first law but does not relate to it specifically. Hence, students should not get confused and mark the option C) First and second.