A boy rides on a pony that is walking at a constant velocity. The boy leans over to one side, and a scoop of ice cream falls from his ice cream cone. Describe the path of the scoop of ice cream as seen by the child and his parents.
Answer (2)
The boy sees it drop straight vertically to the ground, relative to him. / / / His parents, standing still and watching him ride, see the scoop fall to the ground along a segment of an inverted parabola, relative to them.
The boy sees the scoop of ice cream fall straight down, while his parents see it follow a parabolic path. This difference is due to their relative motion; the boy is moving with the pony, while the parents are stationary. The incident illustrates the principle of relative motion in physics.
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