Tracy stands on a skateboard and tosses her backpack to her friend who is standing in front of her. Which best describes the acceleration Tracy experiences?

As Tracy tosses the backpack, she and the backpack exert equal and opposite forces on each other. By Newton’s second law, acceleration equals force divided by mass (a = F/m). Since Tracy has greater mass than the backpack, the same force produces less acceleration for her, so the best choice is “It is less than the acceleration of the backpack because she has a greater mass.”

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