A teacher is demonstrating acceleration to his class by throwing two balls. He throws both balls using the same amount of force in the same direction. The first ball he throws has a mass of 0.1 kg and the second ball has a mass of 0.5 kg.
a
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
b
The balls will have equal acceleration because they are being thrown with the same force.
c
The balls will have equal acceleration because they are being thrown in the same direction.
d
The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have less acceleration than the second ball.
a. The first ball has a smaller mass, so it will have greater acceleration than the second ball.
Explanation:
According to Newton's second law of motion, force (F) is the product of mass (m) and acceleration (a), or F = m * a.
Rearranging for acceleration gives us a = F / m.
If both balls are thrown with the same force:
- For the first ball with mass 0.1 kg, a1 = F / 0.1.
- For the second ball with mass 0.5 kg, a2 = F / 0.5.
Since the denominator for the first ball (0.1 kg) is smaller than that for the second ball (0.5 kg), when the same force is divided by a smaller mass, the resulting acceleration a1 is greater than the acceleration a2 for the second ball.
Thus, the first ball will indeed have a greater acceleration than the second ball due to its smaller mass.