Ok, This is about Newtons Law. If you sit in a car and drive at a relatively high speed, toss a ball up, and the moment its in the air you bring your car to a immediate standstill. What will happen to the ball ?
Shoot forward againts the window? - Cause it carries the motion of the car..
or will it
Fall back down on your lap? Cause its not part of the motion when its inside a vacume?
2006-10-08 01:37:27 · 5 answers · asked by Pyp 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Special Education
I would think it would just fall straight down, but nothing to do with a vacuum. More to do with the law of gravity.
The car was moving forward, not the ball.
It was tossed up and so now must come down.
2006-10-08 01:44:14 · answer #1 · answered by Yellowstonedogs 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
In this theoretical situation, the answer is - none of the above choices. It not only carries the motion of the car, but so do you. It is in motion when inside the vehicle, it is not inside a vaccum because you are not in outer space. Now, lets think this out. You threw the ball upward, and at that particular moment you are moving forward- as is the ball and the vehicle. You decide to slam on the brakes- which slows the cars' forward momentum, but not yours or the balls'. So what happens? You kiss the ball in the face most likely, as your body continues moving forward while it continues its downward motion. You slam forward, and it gets caught between you and the airbag. You canceled out the forward motion when you threw it straight up (assuming you did). If you try this in a real car- which I don't suggest- and you do not actually slam on the brakes- you will discover the ball does not descend in a straight line downward, nor does it go forward. It will tend to move rearward.
2006-10-08 08:53:46 · answer #2 · answered by The mom 7 · 2⤊ 0⤋
it'll shoot forward against the window. intertia carries it forward.
newton's first law: an object tends to continue in it's state of rest or of uniform motion in a straight line unless acted upon by an external unbalanced force.
when you throw the ball up, it's already moving (along with you) with the velocity of the car. the vertical velocity you give it will only make it go up and back down. horizontal velocity remains unaffected, regardless of the motion of the car. so even if the car stops moving, the ball doesn't and so it will crash into the windshield (along with you).
the actual path traced by the ball (if you don't slam the breaks) with reference to a person on the ground, will be a parabola.
btw, there's no vacuum in the car. besides, vacuum dos nothing to change the property of inertia of a body.
2006-10-08 08:49:25 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
There is a wind factor not figured into the law. Your ball would probably shatter the front window of the car behind you, because you are cutting into the wind at a high rate of speed. B.
2006-10-08 08:48:32 · answer #4 · answered by Brian M 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
pssst --- the inside of your car is not a vacuum.
2006-10-08 08:40:50 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋