The child pushed the baby walker from a carpet onto a hard floor. The child applied the same horizontal force to the baby walker. Explain why the speed of the baby walker increased.

When the baby walker is moving, there are two main horizontal forces: the pushing force from the child and the opposing force of friction. The resultant force is (Pushing Force - Frictional Force). 1. A hard floor has a lower coefficient of friction than a carpet, so the frictional force is smaller on the hard floor. 2. The child applied the same pushing force. 3. Because the frictional force decreased, the resultant force in the forward direction increased. 4. According to Newton's Second Law (F=ma), a larger resultant force causes a larger acceleration. This increase in acceleration means the speed of the walker increased.