A student is demonstrating acceleration by throwing two balls. She throws both balls using the same amount of force in the same direction. The first ball she throws has a mass of 0.25 kg and the second ball has a mass of 0.5 kg.
Explain what will happen to their acceleration and why.
(1 point)
Responses
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have less acceleration than the second ball.
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have less acceleration than the second ball.
The balls have equal acceleration because they are being thrown in the same direction.
The balls have equal acceleration because they are being thrown in the same direction.
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
The balls will have equal acceleration because they are being thrown with the same force.
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
This is because according to Newton's second law of motion, acceleration is directly proportional to the force applied and inversely proportional to the mass of an object. Since both balls are thrown with the same force, the ball with the smaller mass will experience a greater acceleration compared to the ball with the larger mass.
The correct answer is: The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
To understand why this is the case, we need to consider 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.
In this scenario, both balls are thrown with the same force. Since the force is constant, the only factor that differs between the two balls is their mass. According to Newton's second law, the ball with a smaller mass (0.25 kg) will experience a greater acceleration compared to the ball with a larger mass (0.5 kg). This is because the force applied to the smaller mass is spread over a smaller mass, resulting in a greater acceleration.