Question

A police officer is called to the scene of a car accident in his accident he sketches the scene and describes it according to his description the car went off of the road and hit a tree right after a bend the driver claimed that a second car ran them off a road by hitting them from behind using his observations and his knowledge of physics the police officer determined that the driver was not telling the truth

Answer 1

Answer:

The driver was not telling the truth because it is not possible for a car to hit another car from behind and generate a force to the sides that deflects it from its path.

Explanation:

First, we analyze the driver's statement.

The driver when arriving at the curve, is collided from behind by another car and deviates from his path and crashes into a tree. For the car to go to the tree there must be a force towards the tree.

The net force that causes the car to deviate must be formed by the sum of the motion vector of the first car plus the force that is directed towards the tree.

Here we verify that a car hitting from behind will not generate a force to the sides, but will generate a force in the same direction that the car moves, forward.