Question

In the great shopping cart race, two students push on shopping carts. A having twice the mass of B, with the same force applied over the same distance. Which shopping cart wins the race?
A. cart A
B. cart B
C. neither, its a tie

Answer 1

B. cart B

Explanation:

The acceleration of each cart is given by Newton's second law:

$F=ma$

$a=\frac{F}{m}$

where F is the force applied, a is the acceleration and m is the cart's mass.

The force F applied is the same for the two carts, however the mass of cart A (mA) is twice than the mass of cart B (mB), so we can rewrite the two accelerations:

$a_A = \frac{F}{m_A}=\frac{F}{2 m_B}$

$a_B = \frac{F}{m_B}$

we see that the acceleration of cart B is twice the acceleration of cart A, therefore cart B will move faster and will win the race.