A freight train is accelerating on a level track. The tension in the coupling between the engine and the first freight car would change if some of the cargo in the last car were transfered to other cars?

Question

Physics

Rylan Cochran

12 February, 23:06

A freight train is accelerating on a level track. The tension in the coupling between the engine and the first freight car would change if some of the cargo in the last car were transfered to other cars?

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Answers (1)

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Adeline Mcintyre · Answer 1

False

Explanation:

According to Newton's 3rd law, the tension between the engine and the 1st freight cars would equals to the force required to pull all the freight cars from the 1st one on ward. In addition, Newton's 2nd law states that the F = ma, which means that force is proportional to the mass of all the freight cars, given that the freight train is accelerating. So if some of the cargo in the last car were transferred to other cars, their total mass would stay the same, and so as force F and tension.