Final answer:
To overcome an object's inertia, it must be acted upon by a force. Friction is an external force, and the rate of change of velocity is called acceleration. Newton's laws explain how force, mass, and acceleration are related.
Step-by-step explanation:
To overcome an object's inertia, it must be acted upon by a force. Inertia refers to the property of matter to resist any change in its state of motion. According to Newton's First Law of Motion, an object at rest stays at rest, and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force. This unbalanced force is required to overcome the object's inertia.
The type of force that is friction can be classified as an external force because it arises from the interaction between the object and the surface over which it moves. Additionally, when a force is applied to accelerate an object on a smooth icy surface with zero friction, once the force stops, the object's acceleration becomes zero because there is no net force acting on the object. Hence, according to Newton's laws, an object in motion will continue at constant velocity if the net force is zero.
Furthermore, the rate of change of velocity is defined as acceleration. And according to Newton's second law of motion, the force (F) on an object is equal to its mass (m) multiplied by its acceleration (a).