Paleontologists estimate that if a Tyrannosaurus rex were to trip and fall, it would have experienced a force of approximately 260,000 acting on its torso when it hit the ground.

Assuming the torso has a mass of 3800 kg, find the magnitude of the torso's upward acceleration as it comes to rest. (For comparison, humans lose consciousness with an acceleration of about 7g .)

Figure out acceleration a and change in time (delta t).

What confusing me is I thought since F=ma you would do 260000/3800 it seems to be wrong though. Can anyone help?

Mia

260,000 what?

260,000 Newtons

To find the magnitude of the torso's upward acceleration, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the force acting on an object is equal to its mass multiplied by its acceleration. Therefore, the equation we need to use is:

F = ma

Given that the force acting on the torso is 260,000 N (Newtons) and the mass of the torso is 3800 kg, we can rearrange the equation to solve for acceleration:

a = F/m

Substituting the given values:

a = 260000 N / 3800 kg

a ≈ 68.42 m/s^2

Thus, the magnitude of the torso's upward acceleration is approximately 68.42 m/s^2.

To find the magnitude of the torso's upward acceleration, we can indeed use the equation F = m * a, where F is the force, m is the mass, and a is the acceleration. However, in this case, we need to consider that the force experienced by the torso is generated by its impact with the ground, causing it to decelerate rather than accelerate.

Let's break down the problem into steps:

Step 1: Calculate the force applied to decelerate the torso
Since the force acting on the torso is the force of impact, we need to use the equation F = ma in reverse. Rearranging the formula gives us a = F / m.
Plugging in the values, we have a = 260,000 N / 3800 kg = 68.42 m/s².

Step 2: Calculate the acceleration due to gravity
Next, we need to consider the acceleration due to gravity, which acts in the opposite direction to the force of impact. The acceleration due to gravity on Earth is approximately 9.8 m/s². In this case, we want to find the upward acceleration, so we'll add this value to the downward force.

Step 3: Calculate the net upward acceleration
To find the net upward acceleration, we subtract the acceleration due to gravity from the acceleration resulting from the force of impact.
Net upward acceleration = 68.42 m/s² - 9.8 m/s² = 58.62 m/s².

Now, let's move on to finding the change in time, which is represented by delta t.

Step 4: Find delta t using an appropriate value
Unfortunately, without knowing the specific details or context of the scenario, we cannot directly calculate the change in time. Change in time depends on how long it takes for the torso to come to rest after the impact.

However, if you have a value for delta t or an additional piece of information related to the time of impact, you can use it to calculate the change in time.

Please note that in this problem, you have given the force of impact and the mass, which allows you to calculate the magnitude of the upward acceleration, but you would need additional information to find the change in time (delta t).