Final answer:
The car will experience a force in the opposite direction upon striking the tree. The tree will experience a greater acceleration due to its lower mass, as force is equal but acceleration depends on mass according to Newton's Laws of Motion.
Step-by-step explanation:
Concerning the interaction between a 500kg car and a 200kg tree, when the car strikes the tree, Newton's Third Law of Motion comes into play. This law states that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore, the force exerted by the car on the tree is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the force the tree exerts on the car. As a result, the car will experience a force in the opposite direction. However, due to the difference in mass, the tree will experience a greater acceleration than the car because acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, as given by Newton's Second Law of Motion (F=ma).
Let's consider similar examples to elucidate the concept we're dealing with here. In a scenario where a 550-kg sports car collides with a 2200-kg truck and the truck's acceleration is 10 m/s², the sports car's acceleration would be significantly higher since it has less mass. The same idea applies to the car and tree scenario, where the lighter tree would have a larger acceleration if both objects experienced the same amount of force.