The acceleration of the center of mass of a system of particles:
A)depends on all the forces on all the particles
B)depends on all the velocities of all the particles
C)depends only on the forces external to the system of particles
D)depends only on the forces internal to the system of particles
E)depends only on the force of gravity

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The acceleration of the center of mass of a system of particles depends only on the forces external to the system of particles, as the internal forces between the particles will cancel out. This is known as the principle of conservation of linear momentum.

The Acceleration of the Center of Mass of a System