A bird in flight collides with the windshield of a Boeing 747 flying in the opposite direction.

Question

A bird in flight collides with the windshield of a Boeing 747 flying in the opposite direction. Compared to the acceleration of the plane, the acceleration of the bird is

Select one:

a. nonexistent.

b. smaller.

c. larger.

d. the same.

Answer 1

The acceleration of the bird is larger than the acceleration of the plane.

When the bird collides with the windshield of the plane, it experiences a very large force over a very short period of time, causing it to rapidly decelerate. According to Newton's second law of motion, the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force applied to it and inversely proportional to its mass. Since the bird has a much smaller mass than the plane, the force on the bird is much greater than the force on the plane. As a result, the bird experiences a much larger acceleration than the plane.