The Impact of Adding Groceries to a Supermarket Cart on Acceleration

The Impact of Groceries on Cart Acceleration

Explanation: When Billy adds more groceries to the cart, the mass of the cart increases. If the force Billy applies remains the same, the acceleration of the cart decreases due to Newton's second law of motion, which links force, mass, and acceleration.

Understanding Newton's Second Law

Newton's second law states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the force acting on it and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. In this case, as Billy pushes the filled cart with the same force as the empty cart, the added groceries increase the overall mass of the system.

This increase in mass requires more force to accelerate the cart at the same rate as before. Since the force applied by Billy remains constant, the acceleration decreases due to the greater mass now being moved.

Comparison with Other Systems

Consider the scenario with a basketball player and a stalled SUV receiving the same force. The basketball, with lower mass, will experience a higher acceleration compared to the SUV due to its lesser mass. Similarly, the filled cart will have a lower acceleration than the empty cart under the same force due to the increased mass from the groceries.

Therefore, as more groceries are added, the cart's acceleration decreases when pushed with the same initial force. This is a direct result of the increase in mass from the additional weight of the groceries.