consider the system known as atwood's machine (two masses hanging over a pulley; see example 6-7 in your textbook). assume the two masses $m 1$ and $m 2$ are not equal. suppose $m 1$ and $m 2$ are increased by the same multiplicative factor (in other words, each mass is multiplied by the same number). what happens to the acceleration of the system? the acceleration is unchanged. the acceleration increases. the acceleration decreases. the acceleration may increase, stay the same, or decrease, depending on the size of the multiplicative factor.