Two children on ice skates pull toward each other on a rope held taut between th

Question

Two children on ice skates pull toward each other on a rope held taut between them. The inertia of owner child is 35 kg, and the inertia of the other is 25 kg. If at one instant the 35-kg child is accelerating at 1.6 m/s^2 to the left, what is the acceleration of the 25-kg child at that instant? Express your answer with the appropriate units. What happens to each acceleration if the 25-kg child stops pulling and just hangs on? The acceleration of 35-kg child would decrease and the acceleration of 25-kg child would increase. Both accelerations would decrease. Both accelerations would increase. The acceleration of 35-kg child would increase and the acceleration of 25-kg child would decrease.

Explanation / Answer

A) force on 35kg child = ma = 35* 1.6 = 56 N in the form of tension in rope

using newton third law of motion, force on 25 kg child = 56 N

so acceleration of 25 kg child = 56/25 = 2.24 m/s2 towards right

B) when 25 kg child stops pulling, the tension in rope becomes zero so acceleration on both child becomes zero

so both acceleration would decrease

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