All About Two Carts on a Frictionless Track
How many of the following statements are true?
A. 0
B. 1
C. 2
D. 3
E. 4
What is the momentum of the two-cart system before cart B pushes and after cart B pushes?
How does the speed of cart B compare to the speed of cart A?
Answer:
All four statements are true.
Explanation:
In a two-cart system, when cart B pushes against cart A, the net force, acceleration, impulse, and change in momentum are the same for both carts. This is due to Newton's third law of motion.
When two carts, cart A and cart B, are at rest on a horizontal frictionless track, with the mass of cart A being three times the mass of cart B, and cart B pushes against cart A, the net force, acceleration, impulse, and change in momentum are all equal for both carts.
Although cart A has three times the mass of cart B, the forces between the two carts are equal and opposite, leading to the same net force. This results in the same acceleration, impulse, and change in momentum for both carts in the system.
Therefore, all four statements are true in this scenario. The interaction between cart A and cart B on the frictionless track demonstrates the principles of force, acceleration, impulse, and momentum in a two-cart system.