for an atwood's machine how would you expect the acceleration to change?

Question

if you move mass from one side to the other keeping the total mass constant?
Gradually increase the mass of both sides?

Answer 1

1. The acceleration is expected to change with the difference in mass between the sides.
2. a=(m1-m2)g/(m1+m2) if one gradually increases both sides equally the acceleration will decrease since the difference between weights remains the same while their sum will increase.