How to Calculate Acceleration with Mass and Force

29 Jan 2023

Question:

A small child has a wagon with a mass of 10 kilograms. The child pulls on the wagon with a force of 2 newtons. What is the acceleration of the wagon?

Acceleration of the wagon is 0.2 m/s².

When given the mass and force applied to an object, you can calculate the acceleration using Newton's second law of motion.

The formula to calculate acceleration is:

Acceleration (a) = Force (f) / Mass (m)

Given data:

Mass (m) = 10 kg

Force (f) = 2 Newtons

Now, let's substitute the values into the formula:

a = f / m

a = 2 / 10

a = 0.2 m/s²

Therefore, the acceleration of the wagon is 0.2 m/s² when a force of 2 newtons is applied by the child.