GED Science Extra Prep: Forces and Their Effects

Some questions on the GED Science exam will test your knowledge of the laws of physics. The following practice questions focus on Newton’s law of motion.

Practice Questions

Use the following information for both questions.

A student is testing out Newton’s laws of motion by applying different forces for 3 seconds to different-colored toy cars of the same mass (2 kg each). The cars start at rest. She records the data for the toy cars in the following chart.

1. What is the value of the unbalanced force acting on the green car?

   A. 0 N B. 4 N C. 6 N D. 10 N

2. Which car has the greatest unbalanced force acting on it?

   A. red B. orange C. green D. blue

Answers and Explanations

1. The correct answer is A.

   You can calculate the unbalanced force acting on each car by multiplying the mass by the acceleration (using F = ma). The green car has zero acceleration; therefore, the value of the unbalanced forces acting on it must be zero. The correct answer is Choice (A).

2. The correct answer is A.

   You can calculate the unbalanced force acting on each car by multiplying the mass by the acceleration (using F = ma). Because all the cars have the same mass, the car with the largest acceleration must have been subjected to the largest unbalanced force, making Choice (A) the correct answer.