Suppose I have an Atwood machine, that is, two different masses connected with an inextensible, massless rope over a pulley. Assuming no friction between the rope and the pulley, the heavier mass will accelerate towards the ground, the lighter mass will accelerate towards the pulley, and the rope will accelerate towards the heavier mass. These three accelerations will be equal in magnitude. But this makes no sense to me. Force causes acceleration. But there is no force acting on the rope. And even if there was, the acceleration of the rope would be infinite because its mass is 0. So why does the rope accelerate? And how can the magnitude of this acceleration be finite?
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