Think about how Newton’s First Law of Motion applies to you. Imagine that you are riding in a car when the driver abruptly steps on the brake. Use Newton’s First Law of Motion and any applicable vocabulary terms from above to explain why your body tends to move forward when this happens. as a 9th grader
As a 9th grader, I can apply Newton's First Law of Motion to explain why my body tends to move forward when the driver abruptly steps on the brake while riding in a car. 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 at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an external force.
In this scenario, when the driver steps on the brake, the car experiences a sudden deceleration or a change in velocity. According to Newton's First Law, my body would tend to resist this change in velocity and continue moving forward with the same speed and direction as before. This resistance to a change in motion is known as inertia.
The reason my body moves forward when the car stops abruptly is due to inertia. While the car decelerates, the car seat, which is in contact with my body, also begins to decelerate. However, due to inertia, my body wants to stay in motion as long as no external force acts upon it. Therefore, my body tends to keep moving forward at the same speed as the car was originally traveling. This is why I might feel thrown forward in the car.
To prevent my body from moving forward, the seatbelt comes into play. The seatbelt applies an external force on my body in the opposite direction, towards the back of the seat. This force helps to restrain my body and prevent it from continuing to move forward with its original velocity.
Overall, Newton's First Law of Motion and the concept of inertia explain why our bodies tend to move forward when the driver abruptly steps on the brake in a car. The seatbelt acts as an external force to counteract this tendency and keep us safely restrained in the seat.