Question

Pictured below are $5$ different situations in which the same wagon in being pulled by the same amount of force at the angles indicated by the directions of the blue arrows.
Friction is negligible, and the wagon stays in contact with a horizontal surface in each case.
Rank the situations according to the amount of acceleration experienced by the wagon, greatest first

• A. $5,3,2,1,4$
• B. $3$ and $5$ tie, $2,1,4$
• C. $1$ and $2$ and $4$ tie, $3$ and $5$ tie
• D. $5,2,1,4,3$
• E. All tie

Answer 1

Answer: (D)

$5,2,1,4,3$

Let the angle between force and horizontal direction of movement of wagon be $\theta$.

Hence the acceleration as experienced by wagon=$\frac{Fcos\theta }{m}$

Hence the acceleration is maximum for $\theta =0^{\circ }$ and decreasing with increasing angle and least for $\theta ={90}^{\circ }$

Hence correct order is as shown in option D.