A car is moving down a straight road.Suddenly a cat jumps in front of the car.The driver slams on the breaks and the passenger goes flying forwards.Why?What law of Newton applies to this situation?
Law #1 momentum of passenger continues forward until acted upon by windshield or other force.
In this situation, the passenger goes flying forward due to the concept of inertia, which is one of Newton's laws of motion. Newton's first law of motion states that an object at rest will stay at rest, and an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force.
When the car suddenly stops, the seat belt exerts an external force on the passenger. However, the passenger's body still wants to continue moving forward, following the principle of inertia. As a result, the passenger continues moving forward before being restrained by the seat belt or any other object in front of them, such as the dashboard.
This demonstrates Newton's first law because the passenger's body tends to resist changes in its motion, leading to the forward momentum and the sensation of being propelled forward.