Lucy boards a crowded bus as it sits in the station. There are no available seats, so Lucy stands in the center aisle next to a support pole. As the bus starts moving forward and picks up speed, Lucy holds the pole tightly to avoid falling over backward. While the bus is speeding up, what is the direction of the total force (if any) on Lucy?

Forward

Explanation:

For every force acting on an object at rest, there is an opposite and equal force acting on that same object. In this case, for Lucy to fall backwards, that means that there is a force acting backwards on Lucy, but for Lucy to still be able to stand upright and not yield to the force of falling backwards, then that means more force is exerted to keep her in the stable position that she is, hence the direction of the total force on Lucy is forward.

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