If u were on a bullet train travelling at 200kilometres a hour and u droped a ping pong ball? what will happen

So like will the ping pong ball land directly under the hand when you dropped it. Or will it travel in the dircetion to the back of the train because the train was moving so fast?

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9 Responses to “If u were on a bullet train travelling at 200kilometres a hour and u droped a ping pong ball? what will happen”

  1. Prof. Zikzak Says:

    It will fall to the point directly below your hand. Since there are no forces acting horizontally, it will not accelerate horizontally.

  2. Totems J Says:

    If you’re inside the train, it will land right below your hand.
    Thanks Galileo!

  3. iammaurer Says:

    The ping pong ball is moving at the same speed you are. If you throw it into the air, it’s also going 200kph. Nothing will happen. It’ll fall into your lap.

  4. kat1605nrw Says:

    IT will land in the same spot as it would if the train wasn’t moving. I can’t remember why but I remember questions of this type repeatedly coming up in school.

  5. Karn K Says:

    The train’s moving really fast, but so are you, and so is your hand. So the ball will also be dropped with that speed forward, which is the train’s speed, so, since everything (train, you, hands, ball) is traveling at the same speed, there will be no RELATIVE motion, and the ball will fall on your hand.. Mind you, you said the train is traveling at 200kmph. I assumed two things: the train is going straight (not turning), and that it’s speed is constant. Otherwise, what I said is not true.

  6. Matt R Says:

    Depends on what height you drop the ball from. In order for the ball to have an overwhelming source of energy, and thus create speed, it will have to have some source of acceleration. Going back to Newtons Second Law, F=MA. Force equal mass times acceleration. Because the ping-pong will not have much mass and will not have much acceleration because it was dropped from your hand, unless a minor miracle happens, it just should hit the floor with minimal force and should not go towards the back of the train unless someone is very slow to react to it and does not immediately pick it up.

  7. Brian T Says:

    Old reference frame question. Fly on bullet train doesn’t know he is traveling 250 miles/hr until he escapes out a window into another reference frame and gets blasted by wind. Ball is traveling at speed of train when dropped onto a reference frame going the same speed. No air blast from outside reference frame to affect it. Stick it outside window into another frame and watch it go. To prove this another way, you do realize that your are traveling over 1000 miles an hour right now? Earth travels about 25,000 mile per day for one revolution 25K miles/24hr. Do the math. Not even dizzy are you?

  8. Evan P Says:

    While the ping pong ball is in your hand .. it is (in all practical senses) fixed to the train through your body, and so shares the trains speed.

    so

    If the train remains at a constant speed while the ball is dropped, it should land basically right below where you dropped it.

    But

    If the train accelerates (or decelerates) while the ball is being dropped .. it will, of course land in front or behind your hand.

  9. chsharrison Says:

    The ping pong ball will seem to fall straight down from the point of view of the person who dropped it, as long as the train does not change speed or direction during the ball’s fall. If the train suddenly sped up, the ball would fly towards the back of the train. The ball seemingly falls straight down because it is going the same speed as you and the train. From the point of view of an observer outside the train the ball would appear to move in a parabolic arc, like a football. This phenomenon is known as Newtonian Relativity.

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