Apply: force, mass, and acceleration

Three teams of students are designing an experiment to study the relationship between the mass of an object and its acceleration due to a force. All three teams are using the variation of an atwood machine shown below.

Team 1 varies the mass of

M_{b}

and measures the time

M_{b}

takes to reach the floor for each mass.

Team 2 adds low-friction wheels to

M_{a}

. Then, they vary the mass of

M_{b}

and measure the time that

M_{b}

takes to reach the floor for each mass.

Team 3 adds low-friction wheels to

M_{a}

. Then, they measure the time it takes

M_{b}

to reach the floor.

Which team’s procedure would best determine how force affects a mass’s acceleration?

High school physics - NGSS

Course: High school physics - NGSS > Unit 1

Problem