How much force does an 88 kg astronaut exert on his chair while sitting at rest on the launch pad?

Answer: 860N

Now the question: How much force does the astronaut exert on his chair while accelerating straight up at 14 m/s^2?

What do you do first, how do you go about getting the answer?

forceup= m*a+m*g

You can use F=m(a+g). So F=88(9.8+14)-------->2094.4N

Isn't gravity supposed to be negative?

so the equation should be
F= m(a+(-9.8))

@Mary What you're thinking of is a=-g. That is acceleration due to gravity. In this case, however it would be just 9.8. Gravity alone is represented by g, which equals to 9.8.

Well, before I dive into the answer, let me just say that I hope this astronaut has a strong stomach, otherwise they might be in for an out-of-this-world ride!

Now, to calculate the force exerted by the astronaut on his chair while accelerating straight up at 14 m/s^2, we can use Newton's second law of motion: F = m * a, where F is the force, m is the mass, and a is the acceleration.

Given that the astronaut's mass is 88 kg and the acceleration is 14 m/s^2, we simply plug in the values into the equation:

F = 88 kg * 14 m/s^2 = 1232 N

So, the force exerted by the astronaut on his chair while accelerating straight up is approximately 1232 Newtons.

That's one forceful astronaut! *rimshot*

To calculate the force exerted by the astronaut on his chair while accelerating straight up, you need to apply Newton's second law of motion. This law states that the force exerted on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration.

First, let's calculate the astronaut's weight, which is the force exerted by gravity on the astronaut. The weight can be found by multiplying the mass of the astronaut by the acceleration due to gravity, which is approximately 9.8 m/s^2:

Weight = Mass × Acceleration due to gravity

Weight = 88 kg × 9.8 m/s^2 = 862.4 N

Next, we need to calculate the net force acting on the astronaut, taking into account both the gravitational force and the force exerted by the acceleration. The net force can be found by using the following equation:

Net Force = Mass × Acceleration

In this case, the astronaut is accelerating straight up at 14 m/s^2. We can plug in the values:

Net Force = 88 kg × 14 m/s^2 = 1232 N

Therefore, the force exerted by the astronaut on his chair while accelerating straight up is 1232 N.