Lectures on Physics has been derived from Benjamin Crowell's Light and Matter series of free introductory textbooks on physics. See the editorial for more information....

A car crash

If you drive your car into a brick wall, what is the mysterious force that slams your face into the steering wheel?

Your surgeon has taken physics, so she is not going to believe your claim that a mysterious force is to blame. She knows that your face was just following Newton's first law. Immediately after your car hit the wall, the only forces acting on your head were the same canceling-out forces that had existed previously: the earth's downward gravitational force and the upward force from your neck. There were no forward or backward forces on your head, but the car did experience a backward force from the wall, so the car slowed down and your face caught up.




Last Update: 2009-06-21