I needed help on these 3 questions that I don't quite understand. Can someone please explain to me how to solve the answer?
Use this scenario to answer questions 1-3:
A car crashes in a tree at a velocity -26.6 m/s. The passenger in the car is wearing a seat belt and is stopped in 2.2 seconds. The mass of the passenger is 50 kg.
1. According the Newton's first law, what will the passenger's motion tend to be during the crash?
2. What was the force acting on the passenger?
3. What was the action and reaction force acting on the seat belt?
I don't need the answers; if I could just please get an explanation on these. Thanks a million!! =]
-MC
Sure! I'd be happy to help you understand how to solve these questions.
1. According to Newton's first law (also known as the law of inertia), an object at rest will remain at rest, and an object in motion will continue moving at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external force. In this scenario, the passenger in the car is initially moving with a velocity of -26.6 m/s (which means the direction is opposite to the positive direction). Since there is no mention of any external force acting on the passenger, the passenger will tend to maintain their motion in a straight line at a constant velocity of -26.6 m/s.
2. To determine the force acting on the passenger, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the force acting on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by the acceleration of the object. In this case, the passenger's mass is given as 50 kg. To find the acceleration, we can use the formula for acceleration: acceleration = change in velocity / time. The change in velocity is the final velocity minus the initial velocity. Since the passenger comes to a stop, the final velocity is 0 m/s. The initial velocity is -26.6 m/s. The time taken to stop is given as 2.2 seconds. So, the change in velocity is 0 - (-26.6) = 26.6 m/s. Plugging these values into the formula for acceleration, we get: acceleration = 26.6 m/s / 2.2 s = 12.09 m/s^2. Now, we can calculate the force by multiplying the mass of the passenger by the acceleration: force = 50 kg * 12.09 m/s^2 = 604.5 N. Therefore, the force acting on the passenger is 604.5 Newtons.
3. According to Newton's third law of motion, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. In this scenario, the action force is the force exerted by the passenger on the seat belt, and the reaction force is the force exerted by the seat belt on the passenger. The action and reaction forces are always equal in magnitude but act in opposite directions. So, the action force acting on the seat belt is 604.5 Newtons, and the reaction force acting on the seat belt (and simultaneously on the passenger) is also 604.5 Newtons but in the opposite direction.
I hope this explanation clarifies the concepts and helps you understand how to solve the questions. If you have any further questions, feel free to ask!