Newton's First Law [Springboard]

This instructor-led lesson begins with Aristotle's four elements and natural places. It continues with Galileo and Newton. It ends with references to what we consider "Newton's First Law," from two thousand years before the Principia. One from China, and a surprising one from Aristotle, himself.

The exclamation point is a quote from Alfred North Whitehead: "Everything of importance has been said before by someone who did not discover it." Which applies to Cavendish's discovery of Coulomb's Law, Voltaic batteries found among ancient ruins in Iraq, and so on.

Newton's First Law [Springboard] at Teachers Pay Teachers

Includes

Student document (print-friendly Google Docs file on Google Drive)

Instructional presentation (link embedded in answer key)

Answer key