Question

A block of mass m is hit by a force which causes the block to have an acceleration of magnitude a. If the same force hits a secondblock of mass 17m, then the acceleration of the second block will have what magnitude?A) 17aB) aC) one seventeenth of aD) 289aE) Zero

Answer 1

By Newton's second law we know that the acceleration is related to the force applied and the mass of the object by:

`a=(F)/(m)`

If the force is the same and the mass is 17 times more, then the new acceleration is:

`\begin{gathered} a^(\prime)=\frac{F_{}}{17m} \\ a^(\prime)=(1)/(17)\cdot(F)/(m) \\ a^(\prime)=(1)/(17)a \end{gathered}`

Therefore the acceleration of the new mass is one seventeenth of the original acceleration and hence the answer is C