Question

A man of mass 80 kg is standing stationary in the middle of a train carriage. The train is moving horizontally (towards the right) with a constant speed of 20 m/s, and the carriage is L = 20 m long. Suddenly, the train starts to accelerate uniformly with a = 2 m/s2 horizontally

a) Is the reference frame of the train now an inertial frame? Design an experiment that allows you to find out.

b) Draw a free-body diagram of the man. Label the forces appropriately and explain their physical origin (one line each will suffice).

c) If the coefficient of friction between the man’s shoes and the ‘floor’ of the train is μ = 0.1, what is the maximum time that the man takes to hit the back of the train carriage? For simplicity, you can assume that the coefficient of static friction is the same as the coefficient of kinetic friction. Assume that there are no obstacles between the man and the back of the train.

d) How does your answer change if the coefficient of friction is 0.3 instead? Ex- plain.

Answer 1

The solution of rhe problem is given below