Question

Explain why, a person travelling in a bus falls forward when the bus stops suddenly.

Answer 1

Hint:This problem requires the knowledge of the concepts of Newton’s Laws of motion. Newton stated three laws of motion. This problem is based on the first law of motion which states that all bodies continue to be in their initial state of rest or uniform motion unless an external force acts on them.

Complete answer:
Newton's first law asserts that if a body is at rest or moving in a straight path at a constant speed, it will remain at rest or continue to move in a straight path at a constant speed until acted upon by a force. The law of inertia is the name given to this concept. In order for the first law to apply to any particular motion, there is a critical condition that must be met. The line "... unless operated upon by an imbalanced force" describes the situation.

The first law of motion applies as long as the forces are not unbalanced - that is, as long as the forces are balanced.When a bus comes to an abrupt stop, the passengers tend to slump forward because their inertia causes them to remain in motion even after the bus has stopped.

Note:The law of inertia is applicable in many practical scenarios that occur in our day-to-day life. For example, a cup of coffee placed in a car has a risk of falling backwards if you suddenly accelerate the car. This is because the cup of coffee will try to remain in a state of rest while the car tries to accelerate.