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Let's say we have a massless body connected to 2 strings. Now lets pull the body with a force $F$. As the body is massless tension in both strings will be equal. Let that be $T$. Now we know that $$F-2T=Ma$$

But as $M=0$, we get $F=2T$. Now although the forces are equal the body still has an non zero acceleration $a$. How can this be possible, even theoretically?

Qmechanic
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3 Answers3

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The fact that the equation doesn't tell you the acceleration is 0, doesn't mean it implies the opposite. If A doesn't imply B, that doesn't mean that not B is true. It might be that B is still true but you just can't infer it from A. In this case A is "the equation is satisfied" and B is "the acceleration is 0". The correct way of inferring that the acceleration is 0 is by knowing that massless objects always travel at the speed of light so one cannot accelerate or decelerate them. So B is indeed true, but it could not be inferred from Newton's laws, since they don't apply.

Stratiev
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There is no way you can tell if the acceleration is 0 or not from the second law $$F-2T=Ma=0$$

The acceleration is indeed 0 but to prove it you have to use another equation that involves the acceleration or maybe the velocity $v$ separately from the mass. This second equation will then add a constraint on the values of the acceleration.

devCharaf
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You have not defined how you are applying the force, nor what is restraining the two strings so as to have tension occur. Force is a vector, not a magnitude. Ditto for Tension. Put in the directions of all these forces to see the answer.

Carl Witthoft
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