Question

Question: A passenger sitting in the rear of a bus claims that she was injured when the driver slammed on the brakes, causing a suitcase to come flying toward her from the front of the bus. If you were the judge in this case, what disposition would you make? Why?

Short answer

In this case the passenger is lying.

Step-by-step solution

Definition of Newton 1st law of motion

It states that an objects 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 Newton's First Law of Motion, which states that an item in motion will remain in motion until affected by an external force, is used in this situation.

Ask first whether the bus was travelling forward or backward. The passenger is lying if they say it was moving forward. The bag would fly forward rather than backward if the bus came to a quick stop. Any acceptable speed of bus backing up would prevent an abrupt stop from making a bag fly too far.

So, the conclusion is that the traveler is lying.