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)
Lighter objects need less force than heavier
objects to start moving but will accelerate at the
same rate.
Lighter objects need greater 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.
Heavier objects need less force than lighter
objects to accelerate at the same rate.
The correct argument that best supports the student's claim is:
Lighter objects need less force than heavier objects to start moving but will accelerate at the same rate.
The argument that best supports the student's claim is: "Lighter objects need less force than heavier objects to start moving but will accelerate at the same rate."
The argument that best supports the student's claim is "Lighter objects need less force than heavier objects to start moving but will accelerate at the same rate." To understand why this argument supports the student's claim, we need to analyze the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration.
According to Newton's second law of motion, the force acting on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration (F = m * a). This means that for a given force, the acceleration of an object depends on its mass. The formula can be rearranged to find the mass of an object (m = F / a).
In the given scenario, the student applies the same force (20 newtons) to both boxes. However, box 1 has an acceleration of 5 meters/second², while box 2 has an acceleration of 2 meters/second².
Using the formula m = F / a, we can calculate the mass of each box.
For box 1: m = 20 newtons / 5 meters/second² = 4 kilograms
For box 2: m = 20 newtons / 2 meters/second² = 10 kilograms
As we can see, box 1 has a smaller mass (4 kilograms) compared to box 2 (10 kilograms). Therefore, the argument that lighter objects need less force than heavier objects to start moving but will accelerate at the same rate supports the student's claim.