Newton's Second Law of Motion homework problem

[jalen]

An applied force accelerates mass A at a rate of 6.0m/s^2. The same force applied to mass B accelerates the mass at a rate of 8.0m/s^2. If the same force were used to accelerate both masses together, what would be the resulting acceleration be?

 

[mjsd]

set up a set of equations using F=ma for different m and a

 

[ekrim]

An applied force accelerates mass A at a rate of 6.0m/s^2. The same force applied to mass B accelerates the mass at a rate of 8.0m/s^2. If the same force were used to accelerate both masses together, what would be the resulting acceleration be?

write the second law for the first case, the second case and the third case

F= (mass of a)*(6.0)
F= (mass of b)*(8.0)
F= (mass of a + mass of b)*(acceleration)


the first two equations give us the mass of a and mass of b in the form:

m=F/a

substitute them into the third equation and solve for acceleration. the force cancels out.