Question

Jenny and Betty are having a great time at Busch Gardens riding the Ubanga Banga bumper cars. Jenny, who is traveling southward in her bumper car, aims her car toward Betty, who is traveling northward in her bumper car. The cars collide and briefly come to a stop. What can you say about the magnitude of the force that Jenny's car exerts on Betty's car versus the magnitude of the force that Betty's car exerts on Jenny's car?

Answer 1

Jenny and Betty both accelerated in the opposite direction.

Step-by-step explanation:

During the collision, both Jenny and Betty begin moving (they both accelerate.)

According to Newton's second law, an object will accelerate if the net force on the object is not zero (0.)

This means that Jenny's and Betty's cars both exerted a force on each other (equal and opposite.)

These two (2) forces are opposite in direction and equal in size.

Instantly after the collision, Jenny accelerates northward and Betty southward (before coming to a stop.)

Therefore, we can conclude that Jenny and Betty both accelerated in the opposite direction (of their original direction which were south for Jenny and north for Betty.)

Answer 2

They both exert an equal amount of force onto each other