Final answer:
The force exerted by the car on the trailer is 720 N, and by Newton's third law, the trailer exerts an equal and opposite force of 720 N on the car. Additional information is needed to find the net force on the car.
Step-by-step explanation:
To answer the question regarding the forces between the car and the trailer, we'll use Newton's second law, which states that the force applied to an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration (F = ma).
a) To determine the force exerted by the car on the trailer, apply Newton's second law to the trailer. The mass of the trailer is 600 kg, and the given acceleration is 1.20 m/s2. So the force is F = 600 kg × 1.20 m/s2 = 720 N.
b) By Newton's third law, the force exerted by the trailer on the car is equal and opposite to the force exerted by the car on the trailer. Therefore, it is also 720 N but in the opposite direction.
c) The net force acting on the car is the sum of all the forces acting on it, which includes the force it exerts to pull the trailer and any other forces such as its engine force minus any resistive forces like friction. Since friction is ignored and only the force on the trailer is considered, the net force on the car includes the force it applies on the trailer but also needs to include the engine's force used to accelerate itself; therefore, additional information is required to calculate the net force on the car.