Answer to Question #133685 in Physics for aless

Question

Tim is walking down the aisle of a speeding l bus and tosses a coin into the air. Matthew is standing on the sidewalk outside. draw the trajectory of the coin from Tim’s frame of reference.

Answer 1

When Tim tosses the coin vertically upward, it has initial velocity equal to the speed of Tim relative to the bus. However, the speed of the bus (and Tim of course) relative to Matthew increases, while no force acts on the coin, so its speed remains constant relative to Matthew. The trajectory, therefore, will be like this: