Why do the items on the tablecloth stay in place when it is pulled?

The items on the tablecloth remain in place when it is pulled due to their inertia, which is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion. Inertia is a fundamental property of matter, directly related to mass; the more mass an object has, the greater its inertia. When the tablecloth is pulled swiftly, the force exerted on the cloth does not impart enough acceleration to overcome the inertia of the items resting on it. As a result, they tend to stay in their original position. This situation effectively illustrates Newton's first law of motion, which states that in the absence of a net external force, objects at rest will stay at rest.

This principle explains why lightweight objects might also remain stationary even though they have less inertia compared to heavier ones, as long as the pull of the tablecloth does not exert sufficient force to move them. The notion that the items could be too heavy or glued down can suggest reasons for an object's stability, but it is the fundamental property of inertia that governs their immediate resistance to the pull of the tablecloth.