Which term describes resistance to a change in motion?

Master the Navigation, Seamanship, and Shiphandling (NSS) – Officer of the Deck (OOD) Phase 2 Exam with engaging flashcards and multiple choice questions, complete with hints and explanations. Prepare comprehensively for your test!

Inertia describes the resistance to a change in motion. It’s the property of matter that makes a body keep moving at a constant velocity or stay at rest unless a net external force acts on it. Newton’s first law states that an object in motion will continue in a straight line at the same speed, and a stationary object will remain at rest, until a net force acts. The heavier the object, the greater its inertia, so a large ship resists speeding up, slowing down, or turning more than a lighter vessel. Momentum is the actual motion of the object (mass times velocity) and it will change when velocity changes; inertia is what resists that change. Force is the external influence required to produce acceleration. Energy relates to the capacity to do work or the kinetic energy of the moving object, but it is not the resistance to changing motion.