Two boxes of fruit on a frictionless horizontal surface are connected by a light string as in the figures below, where m1 = 15 kg and m2 = 17 kg. A force of 58 N is applied to the 17 kg box. The acceleration of the boxes is 1.8.

Question

Find the tension in the string.

Answer 1

you take the mass of the object that the force is acted upon, in your case, 15kg and multiply that by you acceleration

so:

T = (15)kg x 1.8 m/s^2 = 27N