140k views
3 votes
Assume that a cart of mass m is being pushed with a constant force of known magnitude. If the mass of the cart is halved and the force is not changed, the cart's acceleration will be _____.

User Eden Crow
by
8.8k points

1 Answer

4 votes

Final answer:

If the mass of a cart is halved and the force applied remains constant, the cart's acceleration will double according to Newton's second law.

Step-by-step explanation:

The question is about how the acceleration of a cart changes when its mass is halved and the force applied remains the same. According to Newton's second law of motion, the acceleration (a) of an object is directly proportional to the net force (F) acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass (m), as described by the formula a = F/m. When the mass of the cart is halved, the denominator in this equation is halved, which means that the acceleration of the cart will double since the force applied has not changed.