PACT Physical Education EC-12 Practice Test

The idea being tested is inertia, the tendency of objects to keep doing what they’re already doing unless a force changes that motion. This is captured in Newton’s first law: an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion continues moving at a constant speed in a straight line unless a net external force acts on it. That means a ball sitting on the ground stays put until you kick or push it, and a ball rolling will keep moving unless friction, air resistance, or a collision slows it down or alters its path. In practical terms, this explains why you have to apply effort to start, stop, or change the direction of moving objects in sports. The other options aren’t about motion laws: the angle of release describes how you launch a projectile, absorption concerns energy transfer, and streamlined refers to how a shape reduces drag.