Question

Use the image to answer the question below.

In the experimental setup shown, a car has one end of a string attached to it, and the other end is attached to a fixed number of metal discs. The car moves along the table and two probes sense the motion of the car. The probes send information to a computer that displays the acceleration and velocity of the experiment. When looking at these results, which quantity stays constant during the trials?



Physics experiment setup with a cart, motion sensor, track, pulley, and laptop showing a bar graph.


(1 point)
Responses

mass
mass

velocity
velocity

force
force

acceleration

Answer 1

Acceleration.

With a fixed number of hanging discs the pulling force is essentially constant, so the net force on the cart is constant and by F = ma the acceleration is constant (velocity changes linearly).