Question

Suppose you apply force on a brick by one hand and this force of hand accelerates the brick to an acceleration 'a' [see fig (a)]. What happens if you apply force by both of your hand [see fig (b)]?

• A. The acceleration remains the same
• B. The acceleration almost doubles
• C. The acceleration becomes half
• D. The acceleration becomes four times

Answer 1

Answer: (B)

The acceleration almost doubles

Newton's Second Law of Motion states that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of that object times its acceleration. This is written in mathematical form as: F = ma, where, F is force, m is mass and a is acceleration. The maths behind this is quite simple. If we double the force, we double the acceleration, but if we double the mass, we cut the acceleration in half.