Question

In the great shopping cart race, two students push on shopping carts. A having twice the mass of B, with the same force applied over the same distance. Which shopping cart wins the race?

A. cart A
B. cart B
C. neither, its a tie

Answer 1

B. cart B

Step-by-step explanation:

The acceleration of each cart is given by Newton's second law:

`F=ma`

`a=(F)/(m)`

where F is the force applied, a is the acceleration and m is the cart's mass.

The force F applied is the same for the two carts, however the mass of cart A (mA) is twice than the mass of cart B (mB), so we can rewrite the two accelerations:

`a_A = (F)/(m_A)=(F)/(2 m_B)`

`a_B = (F)/(m_B)`

we see that the acceleration of cart B is twice the acceleration of cart A, therefore cart B will move faster and will win the race.