Question
What is the acceleration of a 50 kg object pushed with a force of 500 newtons?
Answer
Problem: Our task is to find the acceleration of a 50 kg object when it is pushed with a force of 500 newtons.
Data:
- Mass (m) = 50 kg
- Force (F) = 500 N
Unknown: The acceleration (a) = ?
Formula: We will apply Newton’s Second Law of Motion, which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. The formula is as follows:
F=ma
Solution:
First Step: We start by identifying the given data:
- Mass (m) = 50 kg
- Force (F) = 500 N
Second Step: We can now apply Newton’s Second Law:
F=ma
We need to solve for acceleration (a). To do this, we rearrange the formula:
a = F / m
Third Step: Now, we substitute the values:
a = 500 N / 50 kg
Fourth Step: Let us simplify this:
a = 500 / 50 = 10 N/kg = 10 (kgm/s2 / kg) = 10 m/s2
Remember that 1 Newton = 1 kgm/s2
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Explanation:
The acceleration of the 50 kg object pushed with a force of 500 newtons is 10 meters per second squared (m/s²). This acceleration is a result of Newton’s Second Law, which tells us that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it and inversely proportional to its mass. In this case, with a force of 500 N applied to a 50 kg object, we can calculate the acceleration as 10 m/s².
This means that for every second we apply force, the object’s speed increases by 10 meters per second. The direction of the acceleration will be the same as the direction of the applied force.
Conclusion
In summary, using the familiar formula F = ma, we find that the acceleration of the object is 10 m/s² when a 500 N force is applied to a 50 kg mass. Understanding the relationship between force, mass, and acceleration is fundamental in physics and helps us analyze the motion of objects in various scenarios.