Question

A 20-newton force is pushing two blocks horizontally along a frictionless floor as shown below. What is the force that the 8-kilogram mass exerts on the 2-kilogram mass?

Answer 1

Given -

f = 20N

To find -

force that the 8 kg mass exerts on the 2 kg mass

solution :-

Let us obtain the accleration of the system of the blocks A and B . By the definition of the Newton's Second Law of motion we have :

a= F/m1 + m2 =20N / 8kg +2kg = 2m/s2

As we know the accleration we can obtain the force that the B block exerts on the A block :

FB = mBa = 2kgx2xm/s2 = 4N

FB = 4N