When you're riding a city bus sometimes there are no seats left and you have to stand. Why are there vertical and horizontal metal hand bars on the bus? Use the concept of inertia and Newton's 1st law
The vertical and horizontal metal hand bars found on city buses serve the purpose of providing support and stability to the passengers who are standing while the bus is in motion. These bars help riders maintain their balance and prevent them from falling over or being thrown off balance due to the bus's acceleration, deceleration, or sudden stops.
Now, let's relate this concept to inertia and Newton's first law of motion. Newton's first law, also known as the law of inertia, states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will continue to move with the same speed and direction unless acted upon by an external force.
When a bus accelerates or decelerates, the passengers inside the bus tend to resist changes in their motion due to inertia. If there were no hand bars available, the passengers standing on a moving bus would experience a change in their motion when the bus accelerates or comes to a sudden stop. As a result, they could lose their balance and potentially fall. However, by grabbing onto the hand bars, passengers can create an additional force, providing support and keeping them from being thrown off balance or falling over.
Therefore, the presence of vertical and horizontal metal hand bars on city buses is essential to ensure the safety and comfort of standing passengers by allowing them to counteract their inertia, as explained by Newton's first law.