How Rocks Affect the Force Required to Move a Wagon

What effect do rocks have on the force required to move a wagon?

Will the force needed to move the wagon remain the same, decrease, or increase?

Answer:

The force needed to move the wagon will increase.

When Lacy is pulling a wagon full of rocks and picks up more rocks to place them in the wagon, the total weight of the wagon increases. As a result, the force required to move the wagon will increase. This is due to the added weight from the rocks making the wagon heavier, thereby requiring more force to overcome inertia and move the wagon forward.

Newton's first law of motion states that an object at rest will stay at rest and an object in motion will stay in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an external force. The additional rocks in the wagon act as an external force that increases the force necessary to keep the wagon in motion.

Therefore, as more rocks are added to the wagon, the force required to move the wagon will steadily increase. This is an important consideration when transporting heavy loads, as the added weight can impact the effort needed to move the load from one place to another.