Question

Consider a spacecraft whose engines cause it to
accelerate at 5.0 m/s2.
(a) What would be the spacecraft’s acceleration
at a later time if half its fuel has been used up?
(b) What assumptions have you made in order
to answer (a)?

Answer 1

(a) a=5.0 m/s²
(b) a depends on power of the engine
which doesn’t depend on the mass of fuel

Answer 2

10 m/s^2, you are assuming that half the mass has been used up. Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, so by making weight 1/(1/2) aka 2, the acceleration doubles.