When you ride a bus why do you fall forward when the bus stops moving?

Answer 1

This happens because of the force inertia, which is "the property of matter by which it retains its state of rest or its velocity along a straight line so long as it is not acted upon by an external force" according to dictionary.com. This means that if something is moving it will keep its velocity or movement the same and keep going even if the thing it is in stops, like a car slamming on its brakes and the passengers jerking forward.

Answer 2

This is due to "inertia." "Intertia" is a physical object's resistance to change in motion or direction. Basically, your body is moving forward at a certain speed and the bus, suddenly accelerates, which causes a delayed reaction in your body's speed change due to its inertia. This is the same reason your body leans when you take a curve fast, or jerks backward when you are rear-ended shoving the car forward.

Answer 3

When the bus and you are moving you both have a certain velocity, but when the bus stops you don't completely stop with the bus, because you are not completely attached to the bus. When you're standing up, and not holding onto a pole only the floor decelerates you, but your torso continues to move forward. You are falling forward.

Newton's first law states that an object in motion will stay in motion, and an object at rest will stay at rest unless acted upon by a force. In this case, you in motion will stay in motion, where as the bus pushes against the road's surface to stop. Once you start pushing (or pulling) against the bus you will start to change your speed relative to the bus, and eventually come to a stop relative to the bus.

Answer 4

I. Every object in a state of uniform motion tends to remain in that state of motion unless an external force is applied to it.

III. For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction.

Newtons laws on motion I and III explain this phenomenon.

A passenger is at rest and is not moving. When the bus moves forward, it pushes the passengers forward, as they were not previously moving. The feeling would be that you were "falling backward" as the passenger was previously stationary. That stationary spot is now behind you as you move forward, so the force that is "felt" would be in that direction.

This is the same (but opposite) feeling when moving at constant speed and then stopping suddenly. You are propelled forward as your body was in constant motion.

Answer 5

It is due to inertia. When we are sitting in moving bus, we also are in motion and according to inertia we are unable change our state of motion. When bus comes to rest, our lower portion of our body comes to rest due to friction between our body and the seat, but our upper portion of body's inertia of motion moves us forward. So we fall in forward direction.

-Thunder

Answer 6

It's called Centrifical Force. All the passengers are moving at the same potential as the bus as long as it is moving. When the bus slows quickly, the passengers momentum drives them forward.

Answer 7

Momentum (kinetic energy) carries the weight forward because you are still travelling at the same speed as the bus and you compensate by adjusting to change in momentum .

Answer 8

newton law which states every action has an equal and 'opposite' reaction

Answer 9

Gravity, Im assuming..