Question

2. When a man walks on a straight road at a constant speed. If he stumbled over a stone, he will fall forward. But fall backward if he slipped on the ice. Why? Explain very accurately and in detail using inertia.

Answer 1

Both are because of inertia.

1st case

While walking, if he stumbled over a stone, his feet instantly comes to rest but his upper body portion continues to move forward with the same speed due to inertia of motion. Thus, he falls forward.

2nd case

Here, he slips on the ice and thus his feet and lower body part accelerates in the forward direction while his upper body part remains at the same slow speed due to inertia. So the lower part moves forward and the upper part backwards. Thus he falls backwards.