You have your seatbelt on in the passenger seat of a car. The car suddenly accelerates. Which statement best describes your motion?
If the car suddenly accelerates, the best statement to describe your motion as a passenger with your seatbelt on would be:
You will be pushed back into the seat, experiencing a momentary increase in speed and forward force.
When the car suddenly accelerates, the statement that best describes your motion as a passenger with your seatbelt on is that you will be pushed backward into the seat. This is due to the inertia of your body. Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist changes in its state of motion. Since your body was initially at rest, it wants to remain at rest as per Newton's first law of motion. Therefore, when the car quickly accelerates forward, your body tends to stay in its original position, causing you to move backward against the seatbelt. The seatbelt helps to restrain your motion and prevent you from being thrown forward in the car.
If the car suddenly accelerates while you have your seatbelt on in the passenger seat, your motion will depend on a few factors:
1. If the car accelerates forward: You will also move forward with the car, but the seatbelt will restrain you, preventing you from being thrown forward.
2. If the car accelerates backward: You will be pushed back into the seat, again restrained by the seatbelt.
In both cases, your motion will be in the same direction as the car's acceleration, but the seatbelt will limit how much you move.