Question

You and your friends are going on a picnic in a very small car. On your way, the car breaks down and you try to push it to get it to move but in vain. You ask your friends to help you and the car starts moving and revs up. How are you and your friends applying Newton's second law of motion here? What if the car you were traveling in was a large SUV?

Answer 1

Answer:

The pushing of the car by you and your friends is the applied force and when the car moves, it means that the velocity has changed thus causing the movement or acceleration.

Explanation:

Newton's work on forces regarding motion can never be neglected by scientists. Sir Isaac Newton when he was alive, among several of his works he proposed the three laws guiding the forces of motion. In this question we are only going to be treating only one out of the three Newton's Law of motion and that is the second Law Of Newton's laws of motion.

The second Law Of Newton's laws of motion states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the applied force and inversely proportional to the object's mass.

(1). Now, to the question: " How are you and your friends applying Newton's second law of motion here? "

The pushing of the car by you and your friends is the applied force and when the car moves, it means that the velocity has changed thus causing the movement or acceleration.

According to the law, the more the Force, the more the acceleration.

(2). For the second part of the question, " What if the car you were traveling in was a large SUV?"

From the law stated above we see that the acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass, thus if the car is a large SUV, It means that more force is needed to change the car's velocity.