Question

Can the dust out of a blanket be removed using the law of inertia?

Answer 1

Law of inertia, also called Newton’s first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest and an object in motion will keep moving with a constant speed unless it is acted upon by some external net force.

Complete answer:
To answer this question, let’s first understand the meaning of inertia,Inertia is the capacity of an object to resist changes in motion. Force must be applied to get an object moving and again to slow it down to stop.Inertia is proportional to the mass of the object. Inertia can be classified as:
-Inertia of Rest
-Inertia of Motion
-Inertia of direction

Now coming to our question, yes we can remove the dust out of a blanket if we jerk/beat the blanket with a stick, the blanket moves but the dust particles which are loosely attracted to the blanket remain at rest due to inertia of rest and get separated from the blanket.

Another example of the law of inertia could be: Passengers travelling by bus fall forward when the bus applies a sudden brake. This is due to inertia of motion, as the passengers are in state of motion with respect to ground but as soon as the brakes are applied the passengers feet are still in contact with the bus floor while the upper body falls forward due to the inertia of motion.

Note: Fruits fall down when the branches of the tree are shaken. This is due to inertia of rest but when the branches are shaken, it comes in motion whereas fruits remain at rest and thus, get separated from the branches and fall down.