Inertia, Law of
The following article is from The Great Soviet Encyclopedia (1979). It might be outdated or ideologically biased.
Inertia, Law of
one of the fundamental laws of mechanics, according to which a body maintains a constant state of motion or rest relative to the inertial frame of reference in the absence of external influences (forces) or when the effective forces are mutually balanced. In particular, a material particle in this case is either at rest or moving uniformly and rectilinearly.
The Great Soviet Encyclopedia, 3rd Edition (1970-1979). © 2010 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.