http://www.ck12.org Chapter 4. Newton’s Laws
Since Tom has the larger mass, his acceleration must be smaller (acceleration and mass are inversely proportional).
Finally, because Mary’s acceleration is greater, she will travel farther.
c) Neither. Newton’s Third Law states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. Therefore if Tom
pushes twice as hard as Mary, Mary will essentially be pushing back with the same strength. They will therefore
travel the same distance.
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- You are standing on a bathroom scale. Can you reduce your weight by pulling up on your shoes? (Try it.)
- A VW Bug hits a huge truck head-on. Each vehicle was initially going 50 MPH.
a. Which vehicle experiences the greater force?
b. Which experiences the greater acceleration? Explain briefly. - You and your friend are standing on identical skateboards with an industrial-strength compressed spring in
between you. After the spring is released, it falls straight to the ground and the two of you fly apart.
a. If you have identical masses, who travels farther?
b. If your friend has a bigger mass who goes farther?