Question

Question: In the motion picture it happen one night Clark Gable is standing inside a stationary bus in front of Claudette Colbert , who is seated . The bus suddenly starts moving forward and Clark falls into Claudette ‘s lap . Why did it happen?

Short answer

Clark falls into Claudette’s lap because Newton’s 1st law of motion.

Step-by-step solution

Definition of Newton 1st law of motion

It states that an object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force.

Explanation

The force of the seat back on Claudette's body accelerates her mass when the bus begins to move. However, Clark is standing, and the only force acting on him is friction from his shoes with the bus's floor. Thus, as soon as the bus starts moving, his feet begin to accelerate forward while the rest of his body experiences essentially little accelerating force. As a result, Newton's first law predicts that his body will tend to remain nearly at rest with respect to the ground. However, he advances toward Claudette and lands in her lap.