Question

A large truck collides with a small car. True or False: The truck exerted a greater magnitude force on the car than the car exerted on the truck. True False

Answer 1

Answer:

False.

Explanation:

The forces on the car and truck are equal and opposite. The equal forces cause accelerations of the truck and car inversely proportional to their mass. That is, If the Truck A exerts a force FAB on car B, then the car will exert a force FBA on the truck. Therefore,

FBA = −FAB

However, this can be explained by Newton's second law. Let's say the truck has mass M and the car has mass m. If the magnitude of the force that both vehicles experience is F, then the magnitudes of their respective accelerations are:

atruck = F/M

acar = F/m

and combining these we get:

atruck/acar = m/M

So if the mass of the car is a lot less than the mass of the truck, then the acceleration of the truck is much smaller than the acceleration of the car, and if you were to watch the collision, the truck would pretty much seem like it's motion was unaffected, but the car's motion will change quite a bit.