Question

You are pushing a grocery cart as you are walking down the aisles at the store. You are going at constant speed as you go, you are adding groceries to the cart. How do you maintain a constant speed as you add items to your cart?

Answer 1

You maintain a constant speed by applying more force to the cart since you are adding more items.

Step-by-step explanation:

Newton's 2nd Law states that when one object exerts a force on a second object, the second one exerts a force on the first that is equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.

Answer 2

Increase the force being applied to the cart opposite to the Friction Force so that the Friction force and applied force are equal and opposite.

Step-by-step explanation:

When the net force of the cart is 0 and it is moving, it has no acceleration, so it is moving at a constant speed. As groceries are added to the cart, its mass increases, and according to the equation in the picture, the friction force increases too. in order to maintain constant speed, if the friction force is increasing, the applied force must also increase so that the net force remains at 0 N