Final answer:
The object with the smaller mass will have a greater acceleration when the same force is applied. Using Newton's second law, it is evident that the 15 kg object would accelerate faster than the 20 kg object when both received the same amount of force.
Step-by-step explanation:
If an equal force is applied to two objects, the object which will have a greater acceleration is the one with the smaller mass. According to Newton's second law of motion, acceleration (a) is directly proportional to the net force applied on an object (F) and inversely proportional to the object's mass (m), expressed in the formula a = F/m. Therefore, for a given force, if you have an object with a mass of 20 kg and another object with a mass of 15 kg, the 15 kg object will have the greater acceleration because it has less mass.
To give a concrete example, if we apply a force of 100 N on both objects, the accelerations (a) for each object would be:
- For the 20 kg object: a = 100 N / 20 kg = 5 m/s²
- For the 15 kg object: a = 100 N / 15 kg ≈ 6.67 m/s²
The 15 kg object has a higher acceleration of approximately 6.67 m/s² compared to the 20 kg object's acceleration of 5 m/s².