Napoleon Dynamite and Inertia

At this point you are probably wondering what a Napoleon Dynamite movie clip is doing on a Physics Blog. Here is the answer you are looking for… Inertia. When Uncle Rico threw the steak into the air, you may have noticed that the steak kept moving until it hit Napoleon in the head. This is explained by the phenomena called inertia. The best way to explain this occurrence is through Newton's First Law, which states that objects in motion will remain in motion, and objects at rest will remain at rest, until an unbalanced force is exerted upon it. So when the steak was thrown, it continued to stay in motion, due to the fact that objects tend to continue doing whatever it is that they are doing. However, the steak stopped moving because it hit Napoleon's face, which was the unbalanced force acting upon it. In the wise words of Kip, "That's what I'm talking about"!