A student is investigating mass and acceleration. The student applies the same force to two boxes, as shown in the table.
Box:
1
2
Force applied to box (newtons) :
20
20
Acceleration (meters/second2)
5
2
The student claims that box 1 must have a smaller mass than box 2. Which argument best supports the student's claim? (1 point)
• Heavier objects need less force than lighter objects to accelerate at the same rate.
• Lighter objects need less force than heavier objects to start moving but will accelerate at the same rate.
• Heavier objects need greater force than lighter objects to accelerate at the same rate.
• Lighter objects need greater force than heavier objects to start moving but will accelerate at the same rate.
The argument that best supports the student's claim is:
• Heavier objects need greater force than lighter objects to accelerate at the same rate.
The argument that best supports the student's claim is:
• Heavier objects need greater force than lighter objects to accelerate at the same rate.
This is because according to Newton's second law of motion, the force required to accelerate an object is directly proportional to its mass. Therefore, if the same force is applied to two objects and they have different accelerations, the object with the larger acceleration must have a smaller mass.
The best argument that supports the student's claim is: "Heavier objects need greater force than lighter objects to accelerate at the same rate."
To understand why this argument supports the claim, we need to recall 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. The formula can be written as:
F = m * a
Where:
- F is the net force applied to the object,
- m is the mass of the object, and
- a is the acceleration of the object.
In the given scenario, the student applies the same force (20 newtons) to both boxes, but the accelerations of the boxes are different (5 m/s^2 for box 1 and 2 m/s^2 for box 2).
Since the force applied is the same, the box with a smaller acceleration (box 2) must have a greater mass than the box with a larger acceleration (box 1). This is because, according to Newton's second law, if the same force is applied to two objects, the object with a smaller mass will experience a larger acceleration, and vice versa.
Therefore, the argument that heavier objects need greater force than lighter objects to accelerate at the same rate supports the student's claim that box 1 must have a smaller mass than box 2.