john is pushing a wheelbarrow filled with sand on a building site the total mass of the wheelbarrow and its contents is 30kg when he applies a force of 20N the wheelbarrow moves forward at a constant speed. the foreman shouts john to hurry up and he increases his pushing force to 50N. calculate the wheelbarrow's acceleration.( 1,0 ms forward)
To calculate the wheelbarrow's acceleration, we can use 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:
a = F / m
where "a" represents acceleration, "F" represents the net force acting on the object, and "m" represents the mass of the object.
In this case, when John applies a force of 20N, the wheelbarrow moves forward at a constant speed. Since the wheelbarrow is moving at a constant speed, the net force acting on it must be zero. Therefore, the net force formula can be written as:
F - F_friction = 0
where "F_friction" represents the force of friction acting against the wheelbarrow's motion. We can assume that the force of friction is equal to the applied force of 20N, so:
20N - 20N = 0
This means that the net force acting on the wheelbarrow is zero when John applies a force of 20N.
Now, when John increases his pushing force to 50N, we need to find the acceleration. Using the same formula as before:
a = F / m
Substituting the values:
a = 50N / 30kg
a ≈ 1.67 m/s² (rounded to two decimal places)
Therefore, the wheelbarrow's acceleration is approximately 1.67 m/s² forward.