A person with a mass of 77.5 kilograms is pushed on a sled across the frictionless surface of a frozen pond with a constant horizontal force of 14.8 Newtons. What is their acceleration?
To find the acceleration of the person, 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 can be written as:
acceleration = net force / mass
In this case, the net force acting on the person is 14.8 Newtons, and the mass of the person is 77.5 kilograms. Plugging these values into the formula, we can calculate the acceleration:
acceleration = 14.8 N / 77.5 kg
Using a calculator, we can divide 14.8 by 77.5 to find the answer.
acceleration ≈ 0.1911 m/s^2
Therefore, the person's acceleration is approximately 0.1911 meters per second squared.