Question

Questions 16-20 refer to the following situation: A heavy semi-truck collides head-on with a small, light car \(\left(m_{\text {car }}<m_{\text {truck }}\right)\). Before the collision the vehicles were moving with the same speed but in opposite direction.

During the collision, is the force that the car exerts on the truck greater, equal or less than the force that the truck exerts on the car?

There is not enough information to determine the answer.

It is greater than the force exerted by the truck on the car.

It is less than the force exerted by the truck on the car.

It is equal to the force exerted by the truck on the car.

Questions 16-20 refer to the following situation: A heavy semi-truck collides head-on with a small, light car \(\left(m_{\text {car }}<m_{\text {truck }}\right)\). Before tffe collision the vehicles were moving with the same speed but in opposite direction.

During the collision, is the magnitude of the acceleration of the car greater, equal or less than the magnitude of the acceleration of the truck?

It is equal to that of the truck.

Q It is less than that of the truck.

It is greater than that of the truck.

There is not enough information to determine the answer.

Answer 1

19) According to Newton's Third Law : For every action there is equal and opposite reaction.

Therefore, during the collision, the force that the car exerts on truck \(\left(F_{C T}\right)\) is equal to the force exerted by the truck on the \(\operatorname{car}\left(F_{T C}\right)\).

$$ F_{C T}=F_{T C} $$

Correct Answer : It is equal to the force exerted by the truck on the car.

20) As \(m_{c a r} and the forces are equal and opposite, therefore acceleration of both must be unequal, i.e,

\(F_{C T}=m_{c a r} a\)

\(F_{T C}=m_{t r u c k} a^{\prime}\)

\(F_{T C}=F_{C T}\)

Therefore, \(a>a^{\prime}\)

The acceleration of the car must be greater than the acceleration of the truck due to smaller mass of the car.

Correct Answer: It is greater than that of the truck.