Why whenever you drop something out of a car, it falls behind you but when you drop something inside a car, it falls straight down?
In: Physics
In both cases, it doesn’t. In fact it falls like it’s been thrown ahead, because of the car’s momentum. But several things are happening.
Outside, the air will act as a cushion and quickly stop the forward motion. Moreover your car is still going ahead. Hence you have the feeling it falls behind you.
Inside the car, everything is going ahead, you, the object, the air in the car. When you drop it, it continues going ahead with you, so for you it falls straight down, when in fact it goes ahead with you.
Everything is a matter of who is observing what.
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