Question

A bus and a bicycle have a head-on collision. Compare the force of impact between the bus and the bicycle; compare the accelerations of the bus and bicycle.

Answer 1

The force of impact is same for both bus and the bicycle. The acceleration of bicycle will be greater than the acceleration of bus.

Explanation:

The interaction that occurs between two objects refers to collision. this makes the two objects to come in contact with each other. The third law of Newton states that, when there occurs a collision between two objects, then the force that is applied on each object will be same. But, the direct in which the force is impacted will be in opposite direction.

The magnitude of the forces will be equal but the direction will not be same. The collision results in gaining the momentum by one object and losing momentum by another. The acceleration is mainly associated with the mass of the object. When the object has smaller mass, it will be accelerated more. In the given example, as bus is heavier than bicycle, the bicycle will have greater acceleration than the bus.