Question

Without doing any math, compare the acceleration of a 50kg ball to a 150kg ball if an equal force was applied to both objects.

• A) The acceleration of the 50kg ball would be significantly less than the 150kg ball.
• B) The acceleration would be the same because the net force is the same.
• C) The acceleration of the 150kg ball would be significantly less than the 50kg ball.
• D) You must know how much force was applied in order to know.

Answer 1

Option C is correct because the acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to its mass; therefore, the 150kg ball would have a lower acceleration than the 50kg ball when an equal force is applied to both.

Step-by-step explanation:

When comparing the acceleration of a 50kg ball to a 150kg ball with the same force applied, we can rely on Newton's second law of motion, which states that the acceleration of an object is proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass (a = F/m). This means that for the same amount of force, the object with the lesser mass will experience a greater acceleration because acceleration is inversely proportional to mass. Therefore, Option C is correct: The acceleration of the 150kg ball would be significantly less than the 50kg ball.