Question 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 acceleration of the first ball will be greater than the acceleration of the second ball.
This is because acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, as described by Newton's second law of motion. The equation is given by F = ma, where F is the force applied, m is the mass of the object, and a is the acceleration. As the force applied and the direction are the same for both balls, the only difference lies in the mass.
Since the second ball has a greater mass, it will require more force to accelerate it compared to the first ball. Therefore, its acceleration will be smaller compared to the first ball.
The acceleration of an object is determined by the net force acting on it and its mass. According to Newton's second law of motion, the acceleration of an object is inversely proportional to its mass.
In this scenario, since the student applies the same amount of force to both balls, the net force acting on both balls will be the same. However, the first ball has a mass of 0.25 kg, while the second ball has a mass of 0.5 kg.
Since the acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, the first ball with a smaller mass (0.25 kg) will experience a larger acceleration compared to the second ball with a greater mass (0.5 kg).
In simpler terms, the first ball will accelerate more quickly than the second ball because its mass is smaller.
To determine what will happen to the acceleration of the two balls, 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.
Since the student is applying the same amount of force to both balls and the direction is the same, the net force acting on the balls will be the same. However, the masses of the balls are different.
According to Newton's second law, if the net force is the same but the mass is different, the acceleration of the objects will be different.
To calculate the acceleration, we can use the formula:
Acceleration = Net Force / Mass
For the first ball with a mass of 0.25 kg, if the net force applied is F, then its acceleration will be:
Acceleration1 = F / 0.25
For the second ball with a mass of 0.5 kg, if the net force applied is the same F, then its acceleration will be:
Acceleration2 = F / 0.5
Since both accelerations are equal to the net force divided by their respective masses, we can see that the ball with a smaller mass (0.25 kg) will have a larger acceleration compared to the ball with a larger mass (0.5 kg). This is because the same amount of force is distributed over a smaller mass, resulting in a higher acceleration.
Therefore, the first ball with a mass of 0.25 kg will experience a greater acceleration compared to the second ball with a mass of 0.5 kg.