• Question: what would happen if you dropped a ball out of a window of a train it goes flying backwards but when you drop it in front of you in the train it just falls why does that happen

    Asked by C4M0 to Andres on 14 Mar 2017.
    • Photo: Andres Rivero

      Andres Rivero answered on 14 Mar 2017:


      Hi,

      Interesting question. Actually, the ball doesn’t fly backwards. It is that the train is moving fast and the ball has the same inertia as the train when inside. If you let it drop from the window, the ball feels like it suddenly stooped and would drop down. Of course, if the train is moving fast, you’d have the impression that the ball went backwards because you are now moving much faster than the ball.

      If you drop it inside the train, the ball, you and the train have the same relative speed, so that is why it just stays there and it seems like it just dropped right in front of you.

      Andres

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