Question

1. if the same net force is applied to two carts, one with a larger mass and one with a smaller mass, which cart will have the greater acceleration? why?

Explanation:

This relies on Newton's Second Law of Motion, which states the relationship between net force, mass, and acceleration as $F_{net}=ma$. Rearranged to solve for acceleration, this gives $a=\frac{F_{net}}{m}$. When the net force $F_{net}$ is constant, acceleration is inversely proportional to mass: as mass decreases, acceleration increases, and vice versa.

Answer:

The cart with the smaller mass will have the greater acceleration. This is because, per Newton's Second Law of Motion ($a=\frac{F_{net}}{m}$), acceleration is inversely proportional to mass when the net force applied is constant. A smaller mass leads to a larger acceleration value for the same net force.