A student is investigating inertia and acceleration. The data the student collects is shown in the table.
Assuming the force acting on the objects is constant, which claim about inertia and acceleration is supported by the data?
a
An object with a lower mass has less inertia which causes it to speed up less quickly.
b
An object with a higher mass has less inertia which causes it to speed up more quickly.
c
An object with a lower mass has more inertia which causes it to speed up more quickly.
d
An object with a higher mass has more inertia which causes it to speed up less quickly.
Unfortunately, you haven't provided the actual data collected by the student. However, I can clarify the concepts for you based on the principles of physics.
Inertia is a property of matter that describes the tendency of an object to resist any change in its motion, including a change in velocity. The more mass an object has, the more inertia—it will resist changes in its motion more than an object with less mass.
Newton's second law of motion states that force equals mass times acceleration (F = ma). According to this law, if the same force is applied to two objects of different masses, the object with less mass will accelerate more than the object with more mass, given the inverse relationship between mass and acceleration when force is constant.
Based on these principles:
a. This claim is incorrect because an object with lower mass does not have less inertia; it has less inertia relative to a more massive object but it will speed up more quickly under the same force due to its lower mass (higher acceleration).
b. This claim is incorrect because an object with a higher mass does not have less inertia; it has more inertia and will not speed up more quickly but will actually accelerate less under the same force.
c. This claim is incorrect because while an object with a lower mass does indeed speed up more quickly under a constant force (due to higher acceleration), it is not because it has more inertia but because it has less.
d. This claim is correct. An object with a higher mass has more inertia, which causes it to speed up less quickly. This is because the higher the mass, the lower the acceleration when the same force is applied.
From these options, (d) "An object with a higher mass has more inertia which causes it to speed up less quickly" is the claim that is supported by the principles of physics and the expected data.