Many automobile passengers suffer neck injuries when struck by cars from behind. How does Newton's law of in

Question

physics

Answer 1

Mr. Newton said "An object at rest tends to stay at rest and an object in motion tends to stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force" … blah blah blah (ok he didn’t really say blah blah)

When a car traveling at a higher speed than your own hits you from behind, the inertia in the car that its you makes your car accelerate within a very short period. The problem is, you the passenger inside the car doesn’t want to (just like what Mr. Newton said) so the car has to push you in order for you to get moving with the car. There is another complication. The car, or the seat to be more precise, is firmly attached to your body but not as much - if at all - your head. So what happens is your body starts to move and your head gets left behind. Yikes, and yes that’s not a good thing and if you are lucky to end up with only a neck injury but not a complete head removal, consider yourself lucky!

Hope this explains, and wear your seatbelt ;)

Answer 2

Okay-

Why do you wear seat belts? Inertia. A mass in motion stays in motion until stopped by an outside force. If you throw a pen, it would go on forever if not for sir resistance and gravity.

If a car is moving at 50 miles an hour, a person is also moving at 50 miles an hour.

If the car stops suddenly, the person is still going at 50 miles an hour.

The seat belt prevents this person's torso from moving too far from the seat and will slow the torso to a stop along with the car.

But is the head held back? No. The person's head does not go along this even surface. It is whipped forward, causing major stress to the person's head.

Inertia wins again!

Answer 3

N1: An object at rest remains at rest and an object in motion remains in motion at constant velocity unless acted upon by an unbalanced external force.

When you're hit from behind, the car (and consequently the seats) accelerate forward. If there's no headrest on the seat, your head will tend to keep the velocity it had before the collision while your body goes along with the car. The end result is that your body surges forwards while your head stays behind. Your neck provides the force necessary to drag your head along with your body, resulting in tension and possibly damage in the neck. And all of this because your head tends to remain at rest unless acted upon by an external force - in this case from your neck.

Answer 4

Without a headrest, a blow from the back accelerates the car and seat forward, and the inertia of the head bends the neck backwards, which can injure the spinal column.

Answer 5

inertia? yeah right, inertia.
it's the thing that keeps you moving even u have stopped.