Year 7 Science · Unit 3 · Lesson 6

Newton's Second Law — Qualitative

Apply Worksheet

Name
Date
Class

Learning Goals

Warm Up

Because… chain

A motorcycle and a delivery truck have the same engine output force at low speed. Fill in the missing effects to explain why the motorcycle accelerates faster.

Same engine force applied to both vehicles
→
The motorcycle has far less mass
→
Less mass means less resistance to acceleration
→
The motorcycle reaches higher speed faster
→

Overall outcome:

Your Turn

Read the graph

The graph below shows the acceleration of four vehicles when the same 5 000 N force is applied to each. Study the graph, then answer the questions.

Acceleration of 4 vehicles — same 5 000 N net force applied Acceleration (m/s²) 5 10 15 20 25 25.0 Motorcycle (200 kg) 5.0 Small car (1 000 kg) 2.5 SUV (2 000 kg) 1.0 Truck (5 000 kg)

Data: Newton's Second Law (F = ma); force held constant at 5 000 N for all vehicles.

(a) Rank the four vehicles from greatest to least acceleration. Write their names in order.

Apply1 mark

(b) The small car has a mass 5 times greater than the motorcycle. Compare their accelerations — is the small car's acceleration exactly 5 times less? Use the graph data in your answer.

Apply2 marks

(c) Using Newton's Second Law, explain the overall pattern shown in the graph. Why does acceleration decrease as mass increases when force stays the same?

Apply2 marks

Wrap Up

In one sentence, what was the main idea of this lesson?

HSCScience · Year 7 Science · Unit 3 · Lesson 6 · Apply Worksheet