Person in a bus (accelerating system)

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Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around the application of Newton's third law in the context of a person inside an accelerating bus. Participants explore the forces acting on both the bus and the person, considering different perspectives on how these forces interact during acceleration.

Discussion Character

  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • One participant describes the forces acting on a person in an accelerating bus, including the resultant force of friction and the forces between the bus and the person.
  • Another participant asserts that the friction force between the bus and the person is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force exerted by the bus on the person.
  • A participant requests a diagram to illustrate the forces when the friction is insufficient to prevent the person from sliding, indicating a need for clarity on the external versus internal forces involved.
  • One participant suggests a formula relating the forces acting on the bus, indicating that the friction force can be treated differently depending on whether it is considered internal or external.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express differing views on how to treat the friction force and its implications for the forces acting on the bus and the person. The discussion remains unresolved, with no consensus on the best approach to analyze the situation.

Contextual Notes

There are limitations in the discussion regarding the assumptions made about the friction force and the conditions under which the person may slide. The treatment of forces as internal or external is also not universally agreed upon.

pinsky
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I'm having some issues about the Newtons third law.

The image should represent a person in a bus with and the forces acting on them.
The bus and the person are observed from outside the bus. The bus starts accelerating because of the force F_{BUS MOVING}. This force represent the resultant force of the friction between the bus and the ground, and the buses starting force.


As a result, friction force F_{P-BUS} occurs and it acts on the bus because of the mass of the person.
As a reaction, a force of the same size but opposite direction acts on the person F_{BUS-P}

What is the sum of the forces on the bus?
F_{BUS MOVING}-F_{P-BUS} ?

How would one calculate F_{P-BUS} by knowing the mass of the person and \mu?

Is this the solution?
F_{BUS MOVING}-F_{P-BUS}=F_{BUS-P}

Since in this case, the bus and the person have the same value and orientation. That is what a observer from the street would see, right?

attachment.php?attachmentid=24136&stc=1&d=1267789488.gif
 

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Last edited:
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Welcome to PF!

Hi pinsky! Welcome to PF! :smile:

(try using the X2 tag just above the Reply box :wink:)

FP-BUS always equals (minus) FBUS-P.

If you regard the friction as an internal force, then you ignore it, and F = (MBUS + m)a.

If you regard the friction as an external force, then you include it, and F - FP-BUS = MBUSa. :wink:
 
Thanks for the welcome.

I didn't understand your explanation though.

Could you perhaps draw all the forces in a situation where the bus is starting, and the friction between the bus and the person in the bus isn't enough to prevent the person from gently sliding. So in that case we can't observe the bus and the person as a single object.
Draw the forces as they appear from the point of view of a person standing still outside the bus.

I made you a template to spare the time :)
 

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I'm not drawing it, but if the force on the bus is F, and the friction force is G, then

F - G = MBUSaBUS,

G = mPaP :smile:
 

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