B Forces on a passenger in a car?

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In a car traveling at constant speed on a level surface, the forces acting on a passenger include their weight and the normal force, but there is no net horizontal force since the passenger is not accelerating. This lack of acceleration aligns with Newton's second law, indicating that constant speed results in no net force. A passenger sticking their head out of the window may perceive a force due to wind resistance, but this does not affect the overall forces acting on them in terms of acceleration. The same principle applies to passengers in other moving vehicles, such as trains or airplanes, where constant speed results in no net force. Thus, the key takeaway is that passengers in a vehicle moving at constant speed experience no net horizontal forces.
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What would the forces acting only on a passenger in a car going at constant speed on a level surface be? Of course, there would be weight and the reactive force acting on any passenger, but is there a horizontal net force? Or are there just the forces acting on the car and there are no horizontal forces acting on the passenger directly?
Thanks
 
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beans123 said:
What would the forces acting only on a passenger in a car going at constant speed on a level surface be? Of course, there would be weight and the reactive force acting on any passenger, but is there a horizontal net force? Or are there just the forces acting on the car and there are no horizontal forces acting on the passenger directly?
Thanks
Is this question for homework? Or a general question as you study Physics at school?
 
This is just a general question based from a personal conversation I had.
 
beans123 said:
This is just a general question based from a personal conversation I had.
Ok, in that case the question @BvU asked in post #2 is your starting point. What difference does it make? Newton’s second law may also be helpful.
 
beans123 said:
The passengers wouldn't be accelerating since the car is at a constant speed which, of course, means there's no net force.
I agree. What about a follow-up question:
One of the passengers (unwisely) sticks his head out of the window and claims: I can clearly feel a net force ?

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beans123 said:
What would the forces acting only on a passenger in a car going at constant speed on a level surface be?
None.

It is the same answer for a passenger in a train going at 300 km/h or one in an airplane going at 750 km/h. It is also the same answer for a human being standing still at the equator while actually moving at 1670 km/h.
 

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