A 2500 kg car is traveling west with 400 Newtons of applied force. The friction of the road is 100 Newtons. What is the magnitude of a car’s acceleration?
To find the car's acceleration, we need to use Newton's second law of motion:
\( F_{\text{net}} = m \cdot a \)
Where:
\( F_{\text{net}} \) is the net force acting on the car,
\( m \) is the mass of the car, and
\( a \) is the acceleration of the car.
The net force acting on the car is the difference between the applied force and the friction force:
\( F_{\text{net}} = F_{\text{applied}} - F_{\text{friction}} \)
Substituting the given values:
\( F_{\text{net}} = 400 \, \text{N} - 100 \, \text{N} = 300 \, \text{N} \)
Now we can substitute the values into Newton's second law and solve for acceleration:
\( 300 \, \text{N} = 2500 \, \text{kg} \cdot a \)
Dividing both sides of the equation by the mass of the car:
\( a = \frac{300 \, \text{N}}{2500 \, \text{kg}} = 0.12 \, \text{m/s}^2 \)
Therefore, the magnitude of the car's acceleration is \( 0.12 \, \text{m/s}^2 \).