Thank you so much bobpursley for all your help. I actually think I'm beginning to understand, physics involves a lot of what I've learned so far, Newton's laws, mass, acceleration, etc... I just have to make connections.
“A Honda Civic and Lincoln Town Car are initially at rest on a horizontal parking lot at the edge of steep cliff. The Town Car has twice as much mass as the Civic. Equal constant forces are applied to each car and they accelerate across equal distances (ignore effects of friction.) When they reach the far end of the lot the force is suddenly removed, whereupon they sail through the air and crash on the ground below.”
Question 1 Answer:
1.) Which car has the greater work done on it by the applied force? Explain your answer in terms of distance traveled.
**They are both the same because work=the force x the distance and the force plus the distance is the same for both.
Question 2 Answer:
2.) Which car has the larger impulse imparted to it by the applied force? Explain your answer.
**The Lincoln Town Car because it is heavier, so acceleration is a=f/m, the acceleration is lower and therefore you spend more time on the ground.
I have two more questions:
1.) Which car has the greater kinetic energy at the edge of the cliff? Does your answer follow from your explanation 0f 1? Does it contradict your answer to 2? Why or why not?
**The Lincoln has the larger kinetic energy because it is heavier therefore 2x the mass = 2x the kinetic energy. No it does not follow my answer from 1 because both cars have the same work applied, but the Lincoln has more kinetic energy. My answer does not contradict because the Lincoln has 2x the mass and less acceleration.
2.) Suppose the slower car (Lincoln Town Car) crashes a horizontal distance of 10m from the ledge, at what horizontal distance does the faster car hit, (Honda Civic)?
**I think it hits at 20m because if the Lincoln is landing closer to the lot and the mass is 2x then of the civic and the civic goes out faster and has a less mass, wouldn’t you double the 10m?
I answered this last two questions already.
http://www.jiskha.com/display.cgi?id=1259894481