Four movers pick up boxes. Each box has a different mass, and each mover applies a different amount of force to lift the box. Which box will have the greatest acceleration?
a 20 kg box lifted with 40 N of force
a 10 kg box lifted with 60 N of force
a 20 kg box lifted with 60 N of force
a 10 kg box lifted with 40 N of force
To determine which box will have the greatest acceleration, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that acceleration is directly proportional to the net force applied and inversely proportional to the mass of an object. The formula is given as:
acceleration = net force / mass
Let's calculate the accelerations for each box:
For the 20 kg box lifted with 40 N of force:
acceleration = 40 N / 20 kg = 2 m/s²
For the 10 kg box lifted with 60 N of force:
acceleration = 60 N / 10 kg = 6 m/s²
For the 20 kg box lifted with 60 N of force:
acceleration = 60 N / 20 kg = 3 m/s²
For the 10 kg box lifted with 40 N of force:
acceleration = 40 N / 10 kg = 4 m/s²
Comparing the accelerations, we find that the 10 kg box lifted with 60 N of force has the greatest acceleration, 6 m/s².