A student wanted to investigate changing the mass of a cart that you can push the student pushed both carts with a force of 200 newtons if one car has a mass of 100 kg and the other cart mass of 50 kg what result would the student expect to see as far as how fast each cart moved in comparison with one another? short answer

Answer 1

According to Newton's second law (F = ma), the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force applied and inversely proportional to its mass. In this case, with a constant force of 200 N:

• For the 100 kg cart: \( a = \frac{F}{m} = \frac{200 , \text{N}}{100 , \text{kg}} = 2 , \text{m/s}^2 \)
• For the 50 kg cart: \( a = \frac{F}{m} = \frac{200 , \text{N}}{50 , \text{kg}} = 4 , \text{m/s}^2 \)

The student would expect the 50 kg cart to accelerate faster, moving quicker than the 100 kg cart.