A 1028 kg car pushes a 2398 kg truck that has a dead battery. When the driver steps on the accelerator, the drive wheels of the car push against the ground with a force of 4774 N. Rolling friction can be neglected. What is the magnitude of the force of the car on the truck?
What is the magnitude of the force of the truck on the car?
I got 3341.5213 N for the force of the car on the truck. Then when I tried to figure out the force of the truck on the car I got 1432.48N but it was wrong so how do I find out the force of the truck on the car?
What is the magnitude of the force of the truck on the car?
I got 3341.5213 N for the force of the car on the truck. Then when I tried to figure out the force of the truck on the car I got 1432.48N but it was wrong so how do I find out the force of the truck on the car?
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I'm only answering this so I'll have an excuse to point out that calculating the force of a car pushing a truck to a ten-thousandth of a Newton is silly.
With that out of the way, this is a two-step problem. First, treat the truck and car as one big object. This isn't difficult, as the accelerations must be the same as long as they are in contact. Use Newton's Second Law to find the acceleration. The net force is 4774 N (Newton's Third Law) and the total mass is 3426 kg.
a = F / m = 4774 N / 3426 kg = 1.39 m/s²
Now that we know the acceleration of the truck (since its the same as the car-truck combination), the net force on it must be
F = ma = (2398 kg )(1.39 m/s²) = 3342 N
And Newton's Third Law tells you that must also be the force of the truck on the car.
With that out of the way, this is a two-step problem. First, treat the truck and car as one big object. This isn't difficult, as the accelerations must be the same as long as they are in contact. Use Newton's Second Law to find the acceleration. The net force is 4774 N (Newton's Third Law) and the total mass is 3426 kg.
a = F / m = 4774 N / 3426 kg = 1.39 m/s²
Now that we know the acceleration of the truck (since its the same as the car-truck combination), the net force on it must be
F = ma = (2398 kg )(1.39 m/s²) = 3342 N
And Newton's Third Law tells you that must also be the force of the truck on the car.