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Anton applies a force on a shopping cart and makes it move forward. What can be said about the forces acting on the shopping cart at the moment Anton applies the force? The forces acting on the shopping cart are...

User Gaganshera
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1 Answer

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Given that, Anton is applying a force on a cart making it move around.

The forces acting on the cart are gravitational force, normal force, frictional force, and the force applied by Anton.

The gravitational force will be acting downwards. From Newton's third law there will be a reaction force to the gravitational force and that is called the normal force. And the formal force will be acting upwards. These two forces are equal to each other in magnitude. And thus they will cancel each other out making the net force on the cart in the vertical direction zero.

The force applied by Anton will be acting forward and the frictional force will be opposing the movement of the cart. The net force in the horizontal direction will be directed forward.

From Newton's second law, the net force is equal to the product of the mass of the cart and the acceleration produced by the net force.

User Michael Hirschler
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