Consider a box in a Pickup Truck

What direction is the force acting on the box due to the truck?

Based on the scenario provided, what is the direction of the force acting on the box in the pickup truck?

Final answer:

The force acting on the box due to the acceleration of the truck is to the right, the same direction as the acceleration of the truck.

Explanation: In the given context, when a box is placed in the back of a pickup truck and the truck accelerates to the right, the force acting on the box due to the acceleration of the truck is also to the right. This means that the force exerted on the box is in the same direction as the truck's acceleration.

This phenomenon can be explained by Newton's second law, which states that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration. Mathematically, this can be represented as F = ma, where F is the force, m is the mass of the object, and a is the acceleration.

In this specific scenario, since the box does not slide around the truck bed (due to it being sticky), it indicates that the box and the truck have the same acceleration. Therefore, the force on the box, exerted by the truck's acceleration, is directed to the right.

To visualize this further, we can draw a free body diagram of the situation. The weight of the box acts downward, the normal force of the truck bed on the box acts upward, the static friction force between the box and the truck bed acts to the right, and finally, the force of the truck on the box also acts to the right.