Final answer:
The statement is false; a car traveling west with a constant speed of 20 m/s has a net force of zero because it is not accelerating, which contradicts the claim that the force equals the product of mass and acceleration.
Step-by-step explanation:
If a car travels west with a constant speed of 20 m/s, the resulting force acting on it must be addressed using Newton's First Law of Motion. According to the law, an object in motion remains in motion at a constant velocity unless acted upon by a net external force. This implies that when a car is moving at a constant speed, there is no net acceleration; the forces acting on it are balanced. In the case of a car traveling west at a constant speed, the frictional force between the road and tires is equal and opposite to any drag force from air resistance; hence the net force is zero.
Newton's Second Law of Motion states that the force acting on an object is equivalent to the product of that object's mass and its acceleration (F = ma). If the car is not accelerating (acceleration is zero), then the force acting on the car is also zero.
Therefore, the statement 'If a car travels west with a constant speed of 20 m/s, the resulting force acting on it is equivalent to the product of mass from the car's acceleration' is false because there is no acceleration in this scenario, hence no resulting force due to acceleration.