Question

How will you compare the acceleration of the 2 matchboxes when you push it with the same force?

Answer 1

Answer:

you pushed a matchbox (or anything else actually) in empty space, you bouth would feel the same FORCE. Not acceleration, not velocity, Newton's law says ·FORCES are equal in magnitude and opposite", it talks about forces.

But, force is mass times acceleration, so

a=Fm

. This means that you will accelerate much less than the box (because I assume that the matchbox is considerably lighter than that)

So yes, same force on both of you (in opposite directions), but the more mass, the less acceleration, as intuition says.

See for example: a shot bullet has much more acceleration than the gun, because the gun is much more massive, so it returns with less acceleration. The force is the same however.

Answer 2

The acceleration can be compared by using the formula $a=\frac{f}{m}$

Explanation:

• The acceleration of an object depends on different things such as size of the object, mass, and the direction of its force. However, greater force will produce more acceleration.
• According to Newton's second law, a force is equal to the mass and acceleration of the object and thus, $a=\frac{f}{m}$. This equation is derived from Newton's law.
• Thus, using the equation derived above, acceleration can be compared by putting in the values of force and mass of 2 matchboxes in the equations respectively.