Question

If an elephant were chasing you, its enormous mass would be very threatening. But if you zigzagged, the elephant's mass would be to your advantage. Why?

Answer 1

It would be very difficult for the elephant to follow your turns.

Explanation:

We can answer this question with Newton's Second Law of Motion. This is an equation:

`F = ma`

In the equation, `F` represents force, `m` represents mass , and `a` represents acceleration . Since acceleration is defined by the change in velocity over time, and velocity is defined by speed in a certain direction, then travelling in a zigzag pattern (which includes many turns back and forth) will result in a positive acceleration value.

In our situation, if you and the elephant both follow the same zigzag path, you will have the same acceleration. However, the elephant has a much greater mass than you, so when you multiply each of your masses by acceleration, you'll find that the force required to make you turn is far less than the force required to turn the elephant.