Question

A car engine provides 2500 N of force for a car that has a mass 1000 kg. If an engineer develops a new chassis for a car that is half as massive, what is the acceleration of the car with the new chassis?

a
2.5 m/s^2
b
5 m/s^2
c
8 m/s^2
d
1.3 m/s^2

Answer 1

To find the acceleration of the car with the new chassis, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that \( F = m \cdot a \), where \( F \) is the force applied, \( m \) is the mass of the object, and \( a \) is the acceleration.

Given:
- The force \( F = 2500 \, \text{N} \)
- The mass of the new car \( m = \frac{1000 \, \text{kg}}{2} = 500 \, \text{kg} \)

We can rearrange the formula to solve for acceleration:

\[
a = \frac{F}{m}
\]

Substituting the values we have:

\[
a = \frac{2500 \, \text{N}}{500 \, \text{kg}} = 5 \, \text{m/s}^2
\]

Thus, the acceleration of the car with the new chassis is:

**b. 5 m/s²**