IB skill practice

Apply Newtons laws to connected bodies

Paper 1, Paper 2 5 marks Difficulty 4

Tension in connected carts

Two carts in a robot cart data logger have masses \(8\,\text{kg}\) and \(7\,\text{kg}\). A force of \(50\,\text{N}\) pulls the \(8\,\text{kg}\) cart. Ignore friction. Calculate the tension pulling the \(7\,\text{kg}\) cart. Use the diagram before entering the requested value. Enter the numerical result and choose the interpretation that matches the physics meaning.

Worked practice: physics data and result

Read the physical quantities first, then calculate the result and state what it means.