Why does an open pot of water swish so much in a car when driving? Do we swish but we’re a “closed pot”?
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Water swishes becauese it doesn’t have a solid connection to the car, so it can’t start or stop moving at quite the same time the car does. This is called inertia: if the water and the car aren’t moving. but then the car starts moving, it takes a little time for the water to start moving: it has to build up a good amount of force acting on it before it will move. From inside the car, that looks like swishing. A closed pot swiches too, but the lid keeps the water in.
We’re more solid than water, so we have a more rigid connection to the car. Because of that, we don’t swish as much. But we’re still pretty flexible, so we do swish a little bit. It can become a serious problem if the car stops too quickly (for example, if it crashes).
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