5 motorboats are being tested to see which reaches the highest velocity in the same amount of time. after graphing the acceleration versus force for each motorboat, the graph is a sloped line with a y-intercept of zero. which statement is correct about these motorboats

1 answer

Given that the graph of acceleration versus force for each motorboat is a sloped line with a y-intercept of zero, we can deduce some important details about the relationship between force and acceleration for these motorboats based on Newton's second law of motion, which states that:

\[ F = m \cdot a \]

where \( F \) is the force, \( m \) is the mass, and \( a \) is the acceleration. The notable points from this scenario are:

  1. Linear Relationship: The fact that the graph is a straight line indicates a linear relationship between force and acceleration. This means that as the force applied to each motorboat increases, the acceleration also increases proportionally.

  2. Slope of the Line: The slope of the line represents the inverse of the mass of the motorboats (i.e., \( \text{slope} = \frac{1}{m} \)). If the slope is consistent across the motorboats, this suggests that they may have similar masses.

  3. Y-Intercept of Zero: A y-intercept of zero indicates that when no force is applied, the acceleration is also zero, which is consistent with the laws of physics and indicates that these motorboats do not have any initial velocity without force applied.

From these observations, we can conclude that:

  • All motorboats are experiencing the same constant mass effect in terms of how force influences acceleration. The straight line with a zero y-intercept illustrates that, for the same amount of force, each motorboat accelerates in a predictable manner according to its mass.

Therefore, the correct statement about these motorboats would likely highlight their consistent behavior described by Newton's second law, indicating they react similarly to applied forces in terms of achieving acceleration, assuming their mass is comparable or constant.