Question at position 1 Two pulling forces are applied to a box, as shown below. (These are the only two forces acting on this box.) In which direction will the box accelerate? The box will accelerate in the opposite direction of the net force.The box will accelerate in the direction of the net force.The box will accelerate in the direction of the larger force.The box will accelerate in the direction of the smaller force.The box does not accelerate.More than one of these answer choices is correct.There's not enough information to answer this question.Clear my selection

Question

Question at position 1  Two pulling forces are applied to a box, as shown below. (These are the only two forces acting on this box.) In which direction will the box accelerate? The box will accelerate in the opposite direction of the net force.The box will accelerate in the direction of the net force.The box will accelerate in the direction of the larger force.The box will accelerate in the direction of the smaller force.The box does not accelerate.More than one of these answer choices is correct.There's not enough information to answer this question.Clear my selection

BlackTom AI · Accepted Answer

At the start, consider the basic idea that an object accelerates in the direction of the net (resultant) force acting on it, and the magnitude of acceleration is proportional to that net force.
Option 1: 'The box will accelerate in the opposite direction of the net force.' This would only be true if there were some convention that reverses the acceleration relative to net force, which is not how Newton's second law works. The acceleration points along the net force, not opposite to it.
Option 2: 'The box will accelerate in the direction of the net force.' This is the correct description. When two pulling forces act in different directions, you vector-add them to get the net force, and the box accelerates in that net direction according to F = ma.
Option 3: 'The box will accelerate in the direction of the larger force.' A common misconception is that only the larger force matters, but acceleration depends on the vector sum, not solely on the largest contributor. If the forces are equal and opposite, the net force is zero, leading to no acceleration.
Option 4: 'The box will accelerate in the direction of the smaller force.' This ignores the effect of the other force and the combined net force; the smaller force alone does not determine the motion when another force is present.
Option 5: 'The box does not accelerate.' This would be true only if the net force were zero (equal and opposite forces with cancelation). The diagram suggests a nonzero resultant, so this is not generally correct.
Option 6: 'More than one of these answer choices is correct.' Since Option 2 is correct and the others are not, this statement is false.
Option 7: 'There's not enough information to answer this question.' The problem provides enough information to determine the net force direction and hence the acceleration, so this option is incorrect.
Overall, understanding that acceleration follows the direction of the net force and not a single component or the larger individual force helps distinguish the correct choice from the common misconceptions represented by the other options.

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