Consider the arrangement depicted in the figure. Determine the acceleration of the 1.0 kg blocks. (Assume g = 10 m/s ^2 )

Step-by-step solution

Let the masses of the blocks on the horizontal surface be m₁ = 1.0 kg and m₂ = 1.0 kg . Let the mass of the hanging block be m₃ = 0.5 kg . The driving force for the system is the weight of the hanging block: F_ driving = m₃ g = 0.5 10 = 5 N The frictional force opposing the motion acts on both blocks on the horizontal surface. The total frictional force is: f_k = m₁ g + m₂ g = (m₁ + m₂) g f_k = 0.2 (1.0 + 1.0) 10 = 4 N Since the driving force ( 5 N ) is greater than the total frictional force ( 4 N ), the system wi