What Happens to a Bug Flying in Your Car When You Slam on Your Brakes?

In this video I see what happens when a butterfly is flying in the back of my van when I push on my brakes and accelerate quickly? Does it fly to the front of the van or stay flying where it is?
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*Any experiment you try is at YOUR OWN RISK. The Action Lab assumes no responsibility for any injury if you attempt anything you see in this video or on The Action Lab channel.

[@gummikalli2]

"No officer I did not notice the stop sign. I was poking my butterfly."

[@erikkennedy]

Talking to the cops about how you were using your 'butterfly wand' might get you some funny looks.

[@aayushdhungana360]

dude u made my day!

[@TRabbit1970]

🤣

[@phantommyst1933]

LMFAO

[@smokeybrown8752]

“You sure you’re not on any type of narcotics?” -Officer

[@ankitminz5872]

Amendment in road safety: Don't play with bugs while driving.

[@Reth_Hard]

This guy is sacrificing himself for science, risking his life for educating his 9 yr old audience about how butterflies are behaving inside cars... And that is truly beautiful. (but also very stupid...)

[@THE_WAAAAGH]

I tried the same thing with a butterfly.. but instead of the butterfly hitting my windshield the car behind me turned my car into a hatchback

[@flamingkillermc2806]

😂😂😂

[@MrBlack.]

Hence... my comment about distracted driving and the need for a co-pilot to handle the butterfly stick while the driver keeps his attention on the road.

[@surjagain]

🤣🤣🤣 LOL! That's a good one, do be careful next time! 👍

[@ankitminz5872]

🤣

[@RitikMaurya07]

😂😂

[@boomfiziks]

Action Lab: “Honest officer, I was doing a science experiment that involves a butterfly and a wand.” Officer: “why don’t I ever get any normal calls?”

[@sandyc6569]

lol

[@SiddharthMandhata]

Dude, you should involve another person, when you're performing a "driving" experiment.

[@ajithxyz7950]

Yeah, I was getting anxious. :8

[@tiddergreen3667]

Don't you have any laws in America which forces you to pay attention to the road

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

@@tiddergreen3667 Americans can't drive anyway

[@oleg146]

Yeah as he could be distracted by traffic and occasionally damage butterfly with this whip

[@illogicmath]

Agree

[@user-po7iv4ni3o]

As a mechanical engineer, I absolutely love these obscure scenarios you investigate! These are the crazy situations that used to constantly run through my head while learning in physics and engineering classes.

[@silvercamera7870]

I wonder what if a policeman sees him driving and playing with a butterfly wand at the same time...Would be very interesting

[@andricode]

And he got arrested because driving under -drugs- butterfly effect

[@Dhirendrakumar-mg8bs]

@@andricode 😂

[@sockcutter]

It should be the same as texting while driving.

[@bubblezovlove7213]

I bet he gets pulled over for that regularly...

[@Bassotronics]

He would go straight into the mental asylum.

[@tamagow]

Guys it's so obvious the butterfly is a paid actor

[@thegamezterb6615]

Raid: shadow butterfly

[@akhanyatinaten2665]

Ah yes, someone versed in the flat earth shinanigans. Water and boats are also paid actors.

[@zethylene]

@@akhanyatinaten2665 AnD eRaTh Is On A tUrTlE!

[@drjoe71]

I like your userNAME :P

[@akhanyatinaten2665]

@@zethylene ThAt's nOt wHaT ThE BiBlE SaYs tHoUgH

[@singingwarrior9322]

Disclaimer: no bugs were harmed during this shot

[@holycow666]

What if there was two butterflies, one for experimenting and the other for letting go?

[@revelia7898]

@@holycow666 Lol! I thought about it!

[@tiddergreen3667]

Book the family in the oncoming car was killed

[@sindu6715]

😒

[@singingwarrior9322]

@@sindu6715 just kidding man😂

[@LightningShiva1]

3:27 Imagine you're driving on the highway and you see this guy coming at you lmao

[@LightningShiva1]

@F.B.I I've seen you too (but I don't know 4 sure bec there are a lot of Fbi accounts out there)

[@LightningShiva1]

@F.B.I (-_-)

[@LightningShiva1]

@F.B.I I can almost guarantee you that we will meet again Cya!

[@H2R_sahil]

@F.B.I i seen you too 🤔

[@sinegra30]

I was one of the guys asking this question the other day... I never thought you would read mine and the other comments about the same thing, thank you so much for your big effort to answer our question so effectively, best regards to you!

[@saurabhpandey1334]

When youre peacefully flying in the nature and someone takes you for a joy ride

[@frederickaltar2953]

its like the drone and the butterfly, sways or move according to the speed of the car.

[@amygreen8297]

A floating helium balloon that is tethered to keep it from touching the interior roof of a closed moving vehicle, in my opinion, is definitely worthwhile experimenting with. The balloon does not have a lot of mass and is much more sensitive to the changing air density that happens when accelerating and decelerating the vehicle (even from turning left, and right too!) Relative to the car, the balloon will go forward when accelerating, backwards when decelerating, and will move toward the inside of a turn when turning.

[@davidcovington901]

True! I was expecting he'd get to that. What if there is a butterfly on it?

[@29C1C]

Smarter Every Day has already done that experiment kzbin.info/www/bejne/r2nQq3espbCtnLs

[@amygreen8297]

@@29C1C Thank you for that link. I really liked how Destin did it with both the plumbob/pendulum and the helium balloon at the same time. That was awesome!

[@mdtarequzzaman5485]

Plot twists: 1. The car was actually driving by itself while James was poking the butterfly so no accidents happened. 2. That butterfly was actually a moth. It was a paid actor. 3. That was no butterfly wand, it was a real magical wand. The Action Lab is actually a wizard in disguise. 4. He used an invisibility cloak so no human was able to see his car. HAVE A NICE DAY! 😁

[@cdhp1]

Damn you really exposed him like that

[@beactivebehappy9894]

*bUt, bUt hOW CaN yoU Pay A BuTTerflY**

[@dashyandpotatochip4415]

@@beactivebehappy9894 with butterflynip

[@justsomeguywithasmolmustac9476]

Can we just appreciate about the fact that he did these experiments alone while driving?

[@sabrywaheedali]

Meanwhile in another multiverse: What happens to a human when a fly hits the breaks of his wings?

[@NoahFNBR]

O.O

[@sweatyjoe5747]

Factz :|

[@MBilal-ne5ov]

I think cyanide & happiness made a video on that

[@Madeth91]

Someones watching rick and morty xD

[@neillunavat]

Haha! :-)

[@cry2love]

So basically - the butterfly is pretty lightweight in air, that's why it is almost in the same place when you accelerate or brake, it's kinda like a human in a huge tank of water, but the drone is much weightier than a butterfly, that's why he goes with air that easily. Sorry for my English, I am very Russian

[@ahypixelnon266]

Alex Bird this is really good English for a second language, I thought you were a native speaker until you said you were Russian! :D

[@DenkyManner]

Not just the weight, the surface to mass ratio. A small stone the same weight as the butterfly would push through the air like the drone. A piece of paper that weighed the same as the drone would be pushed by the air like the butterfly.

[@cry2love]

@@ahypixelnon266 Oh, thank you! Very kind of you. I don't know all technic things in language & it felt like I made mistakes because I kinda was thinking in Russian in the end, so had to include the place of origin, hehe

[@ogge8375]

not only russian, VERY Russian. I like that expression

[@cry2love]

@@ogge8375 Hehe, Yes mister Ogge, plus you can tell it by my hat, it's actually my dad's hat from 1970's or something, so it's truly very Soviet

[@adityavishwajitsingh1052]

I like how he directly gets to the point of discussion in his intro of vid

[@samarthkumar1287]

I just love this channel so much. The innocence with which he tries to explain everything is amazing. You can see how he really wants us to understand the why how and what of the principles. And every question that I've, he addresses it immediately.. amazed!

[@Dr.Niboshi]

“ What Happens To A Scientist Driving A Car While He Is Playing With A Butterfly And Meet A Police Man? ”

[@TechsScience]

If you see a butterfly slams to your windshield you were driving too fast

[@floorgang5388]

Plot twist: the butterfly was actually a moth

[@mahadevparmekar2565]

It's a butterfly. Moths rest with their wings parallel to the surface. Butterflies rest with wings perpendicular to the surface.

[@ghostofsparta1045]

Mahadev Parmekar r/woosh

[@gospizana]

Motherfly?

[@slendy6412]

Don-don-don

[@boldey]

@@gospizana Good one

[@x1area51ii7]

Updates: butterfly funeral at 3pm ET.

[@RobertSmith-eb9xu]

No butterflies we injured in the making of this video...except the ones hitting the exterior windshield during maximum acceleration...lol. Great episode!

[@Wildlink123]

Honestly this will be helpful next time I get a bug stuck in the car. The fact that they don't or can't battle the inertia is good to know

[@adityasagar9078]

3:27 your experiments 😂😂😂😂

[@joshuahardy5356]

Don’t know y this I recommend but I’ve always wondered this as a child

[@MammaOVlogs]

Yeah, l know that from when a bee is in the car, flying in front of your face, you scream and slam on the brakes, the bee is still in front of your face, lol

[@mdtarequzzaman5485]

Plot twist: The car was actually driving by itself while James was poking the butterfly so no accidents happened

[@Think_Inc]

"We all love butterflies" 🤣

[@ananthakrishnanaj8336]

Thanks a lot for taking the effort to actually carry out these experiments which remain mere thought experiments for most of us. Explanations are superbly done. Love the channel. P.S- Pls do get someone else to help out during potentially dangerous ones.

[@95JakX]

You are satisfying so many people’s idle curiosity with this video that you’ve outdone yourself... which is hard to do for you. Many props m’man

[@whenyoudownrng]

Imagine driving down the freeway and you see a man with a barren car turned around, smacking at a butterfly and slamming his brakes lmao

[@landsgevaer]

Regarding how the air itself in the car accelerates, that is due to pressure gradients, not so much movement of the air. That also changes the direction of buoyance. Try the same with a fish in a car filled with water to see how that works. ;-) Basically, accelleration or decelleration changes the direction of apparent gravity in your car (equivalence principle), so things start falling diagonally instead of forward, relative to the car. The drone only corrects for the downward fall due to its orientation that it cannot adjust quickly enough; a butterfly doesn't fall as quickly due to its surface area (as pointed out correctly) and on top of that can accelerate very fast itself (they fly in curvy paths) so adjusting to the change is easy.

[@ishtiak14]

Thank God. At last I got my answer. This question was bugging me for my lifetime.

[@joshlaw2273]

That extremely acceleration could be like when a bug flies into your window while you're driving

[@Isaiah-Hughes]

I've always thought of this!!!!! Thanks for making this!😁👍

[@abrahamfernandez1548]

Thanks to that butterfly. Literally it gave almost its entire lifetime to make the experiment. Good video 🤟

[@_MacGuffin_]

Try a ballon that is attached to the bottom....THAT will blow your mind....

[@Brokendiode]

If you do it with a balloon, due to the surface area of the balloon, and it's mass verses the air in the van, when the break is applied the air in the van will travel to the front of the van, causing the pressure to become higher at the front of the van, which will actually cause the balloon to move backwards and especially if the balloon is a helium-filled balloon, and tethered to the floor of the vehicle. And that is because the atomic weight of helium is less than that of air, you see if you were to take a helium-filled balloon on board the space station, and turn it lose, it would float just like any other object, because of the lack of gravity causing a pressure difference between the floor and the ceiling. What I want to see done is the type 2 superconductor placed on that Trac of 🧲 and placedin a vacuum chamber, with no air to cause frictional losses, as well as add heat to warm up the superconductor, how long will it continue to go around the Trac will it coast to a stop or will the superconductor warm up past the critical temperature and fall off the track????

[@_MacGuffin_]

@Adam HOWIE maybe that is where I saw it :-D :-D :-D

[@Bassotronics]

And not to mention that the butterfly has the weight of a packing peanut. Not much Inertia to do anything at all.

[@SJW2511]

We need one of these low budget experiments to prove that a plane will take off on a conveyor belt

[@joef7980]

Thanks for all your great information. You should do some blooper videos

[@Hussain-xd4cd]

I absolutely love how this guys works soo hard just to create a proper science experiment along with proofs for our knowledge unlike other youtubers out there eho only create fake content just for the views.

[@josephjeon804]

Theres literally a stop sign coming @ 4:25 and he's like "fULl AcCELRatIon!"

[@abdi3672]

When I was a kid I wondered why when I threw a ball up in a car why it doesn't get left behind lol

[@FuntasticStudio29]

Abdi osman It’s basic physics

[@abdi3672]

@@FuntasticStudio29 explain that to an 8 yr old

[@FuntasticStudio29]

Abdi osman Coz I knew everything in physics when I was 9 years, now I’m 14

[@laydendenning5457]

@@FuntasticStudio29 oh yeah you definitely fully understood physics when you were 9, I'm sure

[@FuntasticStudio29]

Mr. Bruh I’m serious

[@gamersadda1327]

Yesss....finalllly. ..you answered my question!!!! I've been asking this question on your every video for 3 years!!!😭😭

[@chananyalipman9232]

Great explanation!

[@fleghel]

I run this experiment every night when driving home- except the butterflies are usually outside, and the air is pushing them into my windshield... then I try to turn the wipers on only to smear’em all over- it gets every time! I guess I make a bad scientist.

[@wizzotizzo]

Still a result then.

[@codedaily365]

This Guy explains everything nicely and butter smooth..... Keep it up!!

[@yaxjoshi8655]

You have taught me a lot!! Thank you You deserve a sub and a like :)

[@chasediemer4396]

Thank you providing me with my daily dose of knowledge. Cheers

[@wattmelberries]

I have always wanted to know this since I was a kid. Finally! After all these years it's answered. Thanks.

[@Javierjr1224]

Lol. I love all the safety concerns.

[@jessical9645]

Oh my gosh!! I've literally always wanted someone to do this experiment. Its boggled my mind since I was a child. There was an old car commercial in the 90s where a miniature flock of ducks were flying through the car as it was moving and I was always curious.

[@mikebel74]

Excellent explanation.

[@marcrenard515]

This was a question i ask me for a long time, thx for the answer

[@MuhammadDaudkhanTV100]

Excellent working

[@jnhrtmn]

I could hear that butterfly screaming "STOPSIGN"! Listen really close.

[@MrT------5743]

Butterflies read and speak English?

[@nixthelatter]

This addresses a question about physics that I have pondered my whole life! Thanks for showing this! I was never able to get a clear explanation about how a bug would have to fly if it was inside of a car while it was in motion. Would it have to also be flying at the same speed of the car inorder to avoid being smacked against the rear windshield? It always boggled my mind.

[@mohammadalharery3565]

Me : I've been asking a lot of people this question but I had not a single answer. Thanks for the action lab . Better than my physics teacher

[@personperson6022]

I always thought those white butterfly looking things were moths but I don’t know

[@leslietaylor4458]

Now every local cop that sees this will be keeping an eye on you 🤔

[@parshwanathmirji8703]

When I was kid I always wondered this ..... thanks for making this video..

[@PlentyOfTrickShots]

I love how he is so nice to the butterfly

[@saiprasadpatil8626]

Everyone watching this : Well well .. let's find out 🤔🤔🤔

[@manit8132]

I am surprised that the word 'inertia' was not used anywhere in the whole video.

[@timothydean]

Man said he had a "wand " for butterflies.

[@abinavbharatha8731]

viewed this great man's video in 2 minutes :)

[@vincevvn]

This was very dangerous James... the butterflies wasn’t wearing a seatbelt.

[@raznaot8399]

It's quite surprising you didn't try "Bug flying in your car while inside a vacuum chamber" yet

[@pl5bnsf]

I'll add another vote that this was crazy, it would have been so much better and SAFER with a helper!

[@ManishSoni-rl7ml]

Love u bro u r awesome!!!!😊😊🤟🏻🤟🏻

[@mathyou9]

You really should get an assistant to do the driving so that you can focus all of your attention to details. Would hate to see you crash. :-)

[@Penitent01]

Could you imagine the conversation, yes officer 👮 I am poking a butterfly with a wand

[@EagleEye-oe4xe]

He probably knew this because he knew the butterfly wouldn't get harmed!

[@mdtarequzzaman5485]

That butterfly wand is a real magical wand.

[@Owlhana]

I've honestly wondered this for some time xD

[@mddell58]

NEXT TIME, have a co-pilot ensure that the butterfly 🦋 continues flying. 👍🏻

[@sandrawong6787]

Now he's so cautious with bugs

[@MuhammadDaudkhanTV100]

Cool working and good fun

[@PR4NV]

A wise man once said "...okay today I'm going to be" and continued into the video. (I bet you read it in his voice)

[@Ramkumar-nc1he]

I was looking for the answer from my school days. Thank you

[@arashmoradian1988]

That was dangerous you should do this type of experiments in a track, i was genuinely worried for you!

[@jacobopstad5483]

I think it's amazing that he always says that outro exactly the same way

[@Scorpwanna]

Teacher "That's very interesting Billy, but this still doesn't answer my question about why you thought it would be funny to take Jill's crayons. Go to the Principals office right now young man....!"

[@DANGJOS]

I can't believe I didn't think of the air resistance thing initially! Oh well, I did just start the video without seriously thinking about it first.

[@azsxdcfvgbhnjmhn]

2.6 million subs, youre doing good for a one man channel

[@meowmeow4148]

Oh my God! Yes! I've been wondering this for so long!!!

[@detenatron.3608]

Man removed most of the sets and turn the SUV into a panel van.

[@giannipiccioni8411]

I feel like a "butterfly wand" could be a nicknam for a rifle. I see myself with a misbehaving son, telling him "behave yourself, or I will put out my butterfly wand"

[@duplab1432]

The mighty trabant😎😂🔥

[@bartekk4023]

00:06 Trabant! I had a car like this one :-)

[@jessiewolf3076]

My too well not my becouse im 14 but my dad,sister and her husband all have trabants :D Im from czech

[@tjdelattre2939]

this is an interesting one haha!

[@samannaydas3847]

Can we have some justice for the bug please? XD..... Dear bugs, please stay away from this guy.

[@arnoldolorenzo3474]

Butterfly, 40mph, “butterfly wand”, oncoming traffic...what could go wrong?

[@adrianleighton2771]

It's like the shifting of a gravitational "horizon" [perpendicular to attraction point], anything that would be in equal density with the atmosphere will rest on it, less - float, more -sink. As accelerating you move your centre of "gravitation" towards the back of the car so the "horizon" will tilt, forcing the fluids in your car to accelerate to the point they are settled as when you were not accelerating. Hence a floating helium balloon in the same situation dives towards the back of the car when screeching to a halt. [was so freaky when I tested this =P]

[@sexypieceofwork4084]

Thank you I finally understand how bugs do this

[@theStr4yD0g]

Great episode. I love physics.

[@wbcc3388]

Remember that the butterfly has a modicum of intelligence and is therefore able to adjust to the forces pushing it around. Is is not exactly like a helium balloon or a drone that can't position itself relative to the van.

[@nikspiks782]

The mystery of my childhood is now solved