Question

Two rubber bands pulling on an object cause it to accelerate at 1.2 m/s^2.. a. What will be the object's acceleration if it is pulled by four rubber bands?. b. What will be the acceleration of two of these objects glued together if they are pulled be two rubber bands?

Answer 1

a. The acceleration will be doubled.

b. The acceleration will be halved.

Step-by-step explanation:

a. The acceleration of an object is a property of mass and force applied to it. Basically, this can be expressed by Newton's second law of motion which is like this:

`F =ma`

where F = force of the object

m = mass of the object

a = acceleration of the object.

given that the mass is constant, the acceleration will increase with an increase in the force.

b. When two objects are used, the acceleration will decrease. This is shown below:

Let the mass be doubled:

F = 2ma

Therefore a = F/2m

as you can see the force is already halved.

Thus more object decrease the acceleration.

Answer 2

Assume the rubber bands have no mass and are identical so they supply the same force to the object. Newton's Second Law of motion says F=ma where F is the net force acting on the object.

a. What will be the object's acceleration if it is pulled by four rubberbands?

F = ma
a = F / m
*when force is doubled
a = 2F / m
acceleration will be doubled.

b. What will be the acceleration of two of these objects glued together if they are pulled be two rubber bands?


F = ma
a = F / m
*when force is doubled
a = F / 2m
acceleration will be halved.