A cart has a mass of 0.20kg and is attached on a pulley with a weight hanging off a table that has a mass of 0.4kg

Question

If the carts mass is 0.20kg and the mass of the weight hanging off of the table is 0.4kg, assuming there is no friction what is the carts acceleration?

Answer 1

Hi 

let us use free body diagrams for the two bodies

then equation of motion for mass on the table is

T = 0.2a ... Equation 1

where a= acceleration of each mass

equation of motion of 0.4 kg  mas hanging off the table is 

 0.4g - T = 0.4a... Equation 2

Solve these two equations for  a ( m/s2)          a=( 0.4g/0.6) m/s2   =(2g/3) m/s2