A Moment of StillnessJulian YehAward: Top 100
School: glenbard west high school In this photo of me dropping a lacrosse ball on a chalked tennis racket, I will be discussing the phenomenon of Newton's first law: Inertia. This law states that an object in motion will stay in motion at a constant velocity, and an object at rest will stay at rest until acted upon by an external, non-zero net force. Initially, the chalk is placed on top of the racket, supported against gravity by the normal force of the racket, and is in a state of rest, with the net force being 0 Newtons. However, as the ball collides with the racket, lowering it, we are able to witness inertia. Without support, gravity attempts to pull the chalk downward toward earth which we can see traces of in the photo. Since it has little mass, we had to capture this infinitesimal instant, to show how it is the chalk's natural tendency to remain at rest, which can be seen with the chalk staying with the racket's pattern it was initially in. This photo specifically shows its resistance to motion, despite losing support from the racket. This demonstration portrays the nature of inertia, explaining how objects will stay in its position unless acted upon by another force. With this photo, we are able to see the crucial aspect that Newton's first law plays in the physics world with respect to both stationary objects and objects that are in motion. 
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