Use the image to answer the question.

Question

A car at the one end of the table is tied to a hanger at the other end of the table using a string and a pully. The hanger is hanging over the side of the table while the car is placed flat on the surface of the table. The hanger can support the metal discs. A ruler, a laptop, and other equipment are also placed on the table.

Students are using the experimental setup shown in the image in which the two ends of a string are attached to a car and to a hanger. The students conduct three trials in which they place metal discs on the hanger to manipulate the force applied to the car. As a result, the car accelerates along the table while two probes collect motion data.

On the fourth trial of this experiment, a student places some discs on the car by mistake. In 1-2 sentences, explain how this would this change the acceleration or velocity?

Answer 1

Placing discs on the car would increase its mass, which would in turn decrease the acceleration of the car.