Question
Two children are throwing a ball back-and -forth straight across the back seat of a car.The ball is being thrown 7 mph relative to the car, and the car is travelling 35 mph down the road. If one child doesn't catch the ball and it flies out the window, in what direction does the ball fly (ignoring wind resistance)? square degrees, measured relative to the car's forward direction
Answer
4.7
(251 Votes)
Sioned
Master · Tutor for 5 years
Answer
0 degrees
Explanation
## Step 1: The ball's velocity relative to the car is 7mph. This means that when the children are throwing the ball back and forth inside the car, it is moving at a speed of 7mph compared to the car.## Step 2: The car itself is moving at 35mph in a forward direction.## Step 3: When objects inside a moving vehicle (like the ball) are not acted upon by external forces (ignoring wind resistance as mentioned), they inherit the velocity of that vehicle. This is due to the principle of inertia.## Step 4: Therefore, if the ball flies out of the window, its velocity relative to the ground will be the vector sum of its velocity relative to the car and the car's velocity.## Step 5: Since both velocities (the ball's 7mph and the car's 35mph) are in the same direction (forward), the ball will continue to move in the forward direction of the car.## Step 6: Thus, the direction the ball flies relative to the car's forward direction is 0 degrees.