Solve for Acceleration: 10 kg vs 30 kg Object Collision in Science Homework

[RachelR]

We are lost, trying to help daughter with science work. "If a 10 kg object collides with a 30 kg object and the 10 kg one accelerates at the rate of 60m/s, what was the acceleration of the 30 kg object?"
?? We arent sure what to do, what formula to use, if its f=mass X acceleration or what... is it 10 kg x 60 m/s?

 

[nrqed]

We are lost, trying to help daughter with science work. "If a 10 kg object collides with a 30 kg object and the 10 kg one accelerates at the rate of 60m/s, what was the acceleration of the 30 kg object?"
?? We arent sure what to do, what formula to use, if its f=mass X acceleration or what... is it 10 kg x 60 m/s?

Welcome to the forums.

To be honest, stated like this the question does not make sense.
First, an acceleration is in meter per second squared, so the 60m/s number you are giving either has the wrong units or it is a speed, not an acceleration.

This sounds much more like a problem of conservation of momentum but there is not information supplied to even start answering the question. Do the objects stick together or do they rebound?

Is it possible to write down the question exactly as it was formulated?

 

[kyle8921]

I can help clarify the concept of acceleration and provide you with a solution to this problem. Acceleration is the rate at which an object changes its velocity. It is calculated by dividing the change in velocity by the time it takes for that change to occur. In this case, we can use the formula a = (vf - vi)/t, where a is the acceleration, vf is the final velocity, vi is the initial velocity, and t is the time.

In this problem, we know the mass of the objects and the acceleration of one of them. We can use this information to solve for the acceleration of the other object. Since we are given the final velocity of the 10 kg object, we can assume that it was initially at rest (vi = 0). Thus, the equation becomes a = vf/t. We also know that the final velocity of the 30 kg object will be the same as the initial velocity of the 10 kg object (vf = vi). Therefore, the acceleration of the 30 kg object can be calculated as a = (60 m/s)/t.

To find the value of t, we need to use the principle of conservation of momentum, which states that the total momentum of a system remains constant before and after a collision. In this case, the initial momentum of the system (before the collision) is 0, and the final momentum (after the collision) will be the sum of the momentums of the two objects. This can be expressed as (m1 x v1) + (m2 x v2) = (m1 x vf) + (m2 x vf). Substituting the known values, we get (10 kg x 0 m/s) + (30 kg x 0 m/s) = (10 kg x 60 m/s) + (30 kg x vf). Solving for vf, we get vf = 20 m/s.

Now, we can substitute this value of vf into the equation for acceleration to get a = (20 m/s)/t. Since we do not have the value of t, we cannot calculate the exact acceleration of the 30 kg object. However, we can say that it will be 1/3rd of the acceleration of the 10 kg object, as the mass of the 30 kg object is three times that of the 10 kg object (a = (1/3) x 60 m/s =