1) how does the force that the light cart exerts on the heavy cart compare with
ID: 1331413 • Letter: 1
Question
1) how does the force that the light cart exerts on the heavy cart compare with the force that the heavy cart exerts on the light cart? Are they zero at the same times, do they reach minima or maxima at the same time ?2) if the force on each Cart is the same , why does the cart undergo a larger acceleration ?
3) does newtons third law appear to hold? 1) how does the force that the light cart exerts on the heavy cart compare with the force that the heavy cart exerts on the light cart? Are they zero at the same times, do they reach minima or maxima at the same time ?
2) if the force on each Cart is the same , why does the cart undergo a larger acceleration ?
3) does newtons third law appear to hold?
2) if the force on each Cart is the same , why does the cart undergo a larger acceleration ?
3) does newtons third law appear to hold?
Explanation / Answer
1)
Newton's third law tells you that they each apply the same magnitude of force on each other but in opposite directions.
This law says: The mutual forces of action and reaction between two bodies are equal, opposite and collinear. This means that whenever a first body exerts a force F on a second body, the second body exerts a force F on the first body. F and F are equal in magnitude and opposite in direction.
2)
Say the lighter cart has inertial mass m and the heavy cart has inertial mass M >> m. Because the changes in momentum are equal (neglecting the fact that they are in opposite directions), we have mdv = MdV, where dv is the change in the lighter cart and dV the change in the heavy cart's speed. Because m << M, dv >> dV. The acceleration is proportional to the change in speed, and both changes in speed take place over the same time interval (the duration of the collision). Therefore the lighter cart undergoes a much larger acceleration than the heavy cart.
3)
Yes, explained in first part.
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