In Need of a Spark

Newton's 1st law states that an object at rest tends to stay at rest, while an object in motion tends to stay in motion. Interestingly, there are a number of physical examples that teach us that gaining that initial momentum to transition from rest to motion is more difficult than maintaining momentum. For example, the water strider, pictured below, is able to stand and skid across the surface of water due to a phenomenon known as "surface tension."