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Why do you fall in the forward direction when a moving bus brakes to a stop and fall backwards when it accelerates from rest?

Updated On: Jan 19, 2026
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Solution and Explanation

The reason you fall in a particular direction when a bus stops or starts is due to inertia — the tendency of an object to resist any change in its state of motion.

  • When the bus brakes to stop: Your body tends to continue moving forward because it wants to maintain its original velocity. Hence, you fall forward.
  • When the bus accelerates from rest: Your body tends to remain at rest while the bus moves forward, making you fall backward.

This demonstrates Newton’s First Law of Motion (Law of Inertia).

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Questions Asked in CBSE Class IX exam

(Street Plan) : A city has two main roads which cross each other at the centre of the city. These two roads are along the North-South direction and East-West direction.

All the other streets of the city run parallel to these roads and are 200 m apart. There are 5 streets in each direction. Using 1cm = 200 m, draw a model of the city on your notebook. Represent the roads/streets by single lines. There are many cross- streets in your model. A particular cross-street is made by two streets, one running in the North - South direction and another in the East - West direction. Each cross street is referred to in the following manner : If the 2nd street running in the North - South direction and 5th in the East - West direction meet at some crossing, then we will call this cross-street (2, 5). Using this convention, find: 

(i) how many cross - streets can be referred to as (4, 3). 

(ii) how many cross - streets can be referred to as (3, 4).

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