
These two handcarts have the same mass. Newton tells us that equal forces applied to equal masses impart equal accelerations. So why does the second handcart pick up speed more quickly than the first? (This is a Soviet problem; Н is the Russian abbreviation for newtons.)
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In each case a force of 2 newtons is acting to set the body in motion. But in the first case the force of gravity acts on the handcart and the weight itself, while in the second the force imparts an acceleration only to the handcart.
From V.N. Lange, Physical Paradoxes and Sophisms, 1987.
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