Consider a toy car which can move to the
right or left along a horizontal line (the pos-
itive part of the distance axis) and a force
applied to that car.
Identify the force that would allow the car
to move toward the right (away from the ori-
gin) with a steady rate (constant velocity).
Assume friction is so small that it can be ig-
nored.
To allow the toy car to move toward the right (away from the origin) with a steady rate (constant velocity), an external force needs to be applied in the positive direction. This force should be equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to any opposing forces to achieve a balanced force and maintain a constant velocity. In this scenario, since friction is negligible, the force required to propel the car to the right with constant velocity could be provided by pushing or pulling the car in the positive direction along the horizontal line.
To identify the force that would allow the car to move toward the right (away from the origin) with a steady rate (constant velocity), we need to consider the basic principles of Newton's laws of motion.
Newton's first law states that an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue moving at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by an external force. In this case, the car is initially at rest, so we need to apply a force to overcome the inertia and set it in motion.
When there is no friction, the only force acting on the car is the applied force. In order to move the car with a steady rate (constant velocity) to the right, the applied force must be equal in magnitude and opposite in direction to the resistance force.
Since there is no friction, the only resistance force acting on the car is the force of inertia. According to Newton's second law, force (F) is equal to mass (m) multiplied by acceleration (a), or F = ma. In this case, the car is moving at a constant velocity, so the acceleration is zero.
Thus, for the car to move toward the right with a constant velocity, the net force acting in the opposite direction (to the left) must be zero. Therefore, the force applied to the car should be zero.