Look at the two carts below. Which one will require the smallest amount of force to push?
You would only have to exert a small force on the empty cart to accelerate it. However, when the cart is full, the same amount of force will not accelerate the cart as much as before.
In the diagram below, three carts with different masses are shown. The red arrows indicate the force applied to the cart, and the green arrows show the resulting acceleration. The size of the force applied to all three carts is the same.
How does the acceleration change in each figure? Click on the green acceleration button to see the answer.
Write a sentence to summarize the relationship between the mass and acceleration of an object when the same size force is applied.
Interactive popup. Assistance may be required. If the same amount of force is applied, an object's acceleration decreases as its mass increases.