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A constant force causes an object to accelerate at 4 m/s². What is the acceleration of an object with four times the mass that experiences the same force?

1 m/s²
2 m/s²
4 m/s²
16 m/s²

1 Answer

7 votes

Final answer:

The acceleration of an object with four times the mass experiencing the same constant force is 1 m/s², which is one-fourth of the original object's acceleration.

Step-by-step explanation:

The correct answer is option B, which is 1 m/s². Newton's second law of motion states that force (F) is equal to mass (m) multiplied by acceleration (a), which can be written as F = ma.

According to Newton's second law of motion, the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force exerted on it and inversely proportional to its mass.

In this case, we are given that a constant force causes an object to accelerate at 4 m/s². When the mass of the object is quadrupled, the force remains the same. Therefore, the acceleration of the object with four times the mass would be one-fourth of the original acceleration.

1/4 * 4 m/s² = 1 m/s²

Hence, the acceleration of an object with four times the mass experiencing the same force is 1 m/s².When a constant force is applied to an object, and it accelerates at 4 m/s², if another object with four times the mass experiences the same force, the acceleration will be one-fourth since acceleration is inversely proportional to mass when force is constant. This means if the first object with mass m accelerates at 4 m/s², the second object with mass 4m will have an acceleration a = F/4m, which is (ma)/4m = a/4 = 4 m/s² / 4, resulting in 1 m/s².

User Fernando Vellozo
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