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Just a simple question but trickier than I expected.

Let us suppose that there is a fly hovering in the moving train. The train moves at a speed much higher than the hovering of the fly. However, the fly moves with the train and does not hit its walls.

Could anyone explain the exact reason for this? Is it because of the air inside the train and the fly is very light? Then if the inside the train is a vacuum, devoid of air, would the fly hit the wall?

Qmechanic
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Keith
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1 Answers1

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Let us suppose that there is a fly hovering in the moving train. The train moves at a speed much higher than the hovering of the fly. However, the fly moves with the train and does not hit its walls.

The air inside the train moves with the same speed as the train. Therefore the hovering fly has no relative speed with respect to the air. For the fly this is the same situation as if the train (and the air inside) stands still.

Thomas Fritsch
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