Imagine a place in the cosmos far from all gravitational and frictional influences. Suppose that you visit that place (just suppose) and throw a rock. What will the rock do? Why?

In a place in the cosmos from all gravitational and frictional influences, when you throw a rock, the rock will just float. If the rock is far from any object in space, it will not be attracted to it due to gravitational attraction. This is because in space, there is an absence of gravity.

In a place free from all gravitational or frictional influences,

objects that you can handle follow Newton's laws of motion

perfectly. We even see this in video from the International

Space Station, even though it's not free of all gravitational forces.

In such a place, if you were to throw a rock, then as soon as

the rock leaves your hand, it continues on, at the same speed

and in the same direction, forever.

Newton's second law of motion says simply that it takes force

to change the speed or direction of a moving object. In a place

where there's no force on it, its speed and direction don't change.