Question

A 8000kg engine pulls a 40 000kg train along a level track and gives it an acceleration 1.20m/s². What acceleration would the engine give to a 16 000kg train?​

Answer 1

The same 8000 kg engine would give a 16 000 kg train an acceleration of 2.40 m/s², following Newton's second law of motion.

Step-by-step explanation:

To find the acceleration that an 8000 kg engine would give to a 16 000 kg train, we can use Newton's second law of motion.

The law states that the force exerted by the engine is equal to the mass of the train multiplied by its acceleration:

F = m × a. In the first scenario, the 8000 kg engine pulls a 40 000 kg train with an acceleration of 1.20 m/s², so we can express this as F = (40 000 kg + 8 000 kg) × 1.20 m/s².

Now, if the same engine is pulling a 16 000 kg train, we can say F = (16 000 kg + 8 000 kg) × a.

The force that the engine can exert is constant (because it's the same engine), so we can set the two expressions for force equal to each other and solve for the new acceleration a.

Let's do the math:
(40 000 kg + 8 000 kg) × 1.20 m/s² = (16 000 kg + 8 000 kg) × a
Solving for a, we get a = 2.40 m/s².

So, the engine would give an acceleration of 2.40 m/s² to a 16 000 kg train.