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dance4now4lif
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Physics Question:

Snow is falling at a constant velocity. If the snow appears to be falling straight down to someone in a car traveling at a constand speed due south, why is it that the actual speed of the snow is reater than the speed at which it appears to fall?

This open post was written 1 year ago | V/U/S: 111, 3, 2 | Edit Post | Leave a reply | Report Post


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Since writing this post dance4now4lif may have helped people, but has not within the last 4 days. dance4now4lif is a verified member, has been around for 1 year, 7 months and has 6 posts and 36 replies to their name.

Post Tags (10)

physics, automobile, due south, snow, question, Falling, speed, Velocity, Constant, Appears (How Tags Affect Reciprocity)

Replies (3)

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Mr. P offline Verified User (1 year, 4 months) Long Term User Shouts: 2 #
An Undisclosed Location | 1 year ago (13 minutes after post)

Although the snow appears to fall straight down, it is not. It’s actual speed is actually the combined speed of both gravity’s effect on snow and wind speed. The wind must in fact be traveling at the same speed of the car, which is why the snow “falls straight.”

http://img265.imageshack.us/my.php?im…

In short, the snow must move with both the speed of the car and the speed of its falling (as opposed to only falling, which would fall at an opposite angle to the car) in order to appear to fall straight.

Hope this makes sense!

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Bogdan (Gone) offline Verified User (1 year, 2 months) Long Term User Shouts: 1 #
An Undisclosed Location | 1 year ago (21 minutes after post)

From a person standing outside the car, the snow would appear to move as fast as the car in the same direction as the car as well as constantly falling.

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dance4now4lif offline Verified User (1 year, 7 months) Long Term User Shouts: 0 #
An Unknown Location | 1 year ago (29 minutes after post)

Thank you!

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