I heard that if a car accelerates from rest, a balloon would move forwards instead of backward. Why is this? Science says it’s because of density, but I don’t get their explanation. It also seems like it’s violating newton’s first law.
In: 8
Imagine the car was 1/2 filled with water, and there was a rubber duck floating on the surface.
When you accelerate, the water sloshes into the “back half” of the car, making the rubber duck get pushed towards the front of the car.
Same thing with a helium balloon and air. Something less dense (helium/duck) gets displaced by something more dense (air/water). Just a little less intuitive.
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