Your hands are wet, and the restroom towel dispenser is empty. What do you do to get drops of water off your hands? How does the motion of the drops exemplify one of Newton's laws? Which one?

Question

Brice Atkinson

Physics

6 September, 05:51

Your hands are wet, and the restroom towel dispenser is empty. What do you do to get drops of water off your hands? How does the motion of the drops exemplify one of Newton's laws? Which one?

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Answers (1)

Know the Answer?

Victor Dunlap · Answer 1

Hand shaking because of inertia (1st Law).

Explanation:

We shake our hands to get rid of the drops. Newton's 1st Law tells us that every object will continue its state of rest or movement until a force is applied. This property is called inertia. When we shake our hand we impart a velocity to the drops, and then we suddenly change the direction our hands are moving, while the drops continue on their previous trajectory, leaving our hands. If we do it slowly it won't work because other forces would have plenty of time to act and keep the drops in our hands.