Which object will accelerate more if the student exerts an equal amount of force?
A.10 kg box
B.two 10 kg boxes
The two 10 kg boxes will accelerate more.
If the student exerts an equal amount of force on both objects, the object with less mass will accelerate more. In this case, the 10 kg box (option A) will accelerate more than the two 10 kg boxes (option B).
To determine which object will accelerate more, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force applied to it and inversely proportional to its mass.
Here, the force exerted by the student is the same for both scenarios, as mentioned in the question.
Let's analyze the two scenarios:
A. A 10 kg box: In this case, there is only one box and its mass is 10 kg. Therefore, the acceleration of the box can be determined by applying Newton's second law: F = m * a, where F is the force, m is the mass, and a is the acceleration.
B. Two 10 kg boxes: In this case, there are two boxes each with a mass of 10 kg. So, the total mass would be 20 kg (10 kg + 10 kg). Again, we can determine the acceleration using Newton's second law.
Comparing the two scenarios, we can see that the force exerted by the student is the same. However, in scenario B, the total mass is greater compared to scenario A, where only one box is present.
Since acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, the object with the lesser mass (scenario A) will have a greater acceleration compared to the object with greater mass (scenario B).
Therefore, the 10 kg box (scenario A) will accelerate more if the student exerts an equal amount of force.