In: Physics
why does a child in a wagon seem to fall backward when you give the wagon a sharp pull forward??
It really has nothing to do with gravity. Gravity is indirectly
part of the solution, because it keeps the child in contact with
the wagonbed so that traction (static friction) can still act upon
him.
It has to do with inertia. There needs to be a force acting on a
body to cause it to accelerate when its immediate environment
accelerates...otherwise that body remains at the previous
velocity.
For the child in the wagon, there IS said force (otherwise he would
fall off the back and wouldn't be very happy), and that force is
traction with the wagonbed as well as normal force of contact with
the back wall. BUT, those forces are LOCALIZED at the bottom side
of the child. The top of the child's body receives the force less
directly, and relies upon the body re-orienting to provide it via
tension in the child's bones. The steady state position is such
that the child's body is "thrown backward" to be slanted
backward.