A body with a mass of 10 kg is placed on a smooth surface. It is pulled by a spring balance and the acceleration is 5 m/s². What should the reading on the spring balance be?
Apply F=ma (Newton's second law)
where
F=force (in N)
m=mass in kg
a=acceleration in m/s²
so
F=ma=10kg * 5 m/s²=50 N
If the spring balance is graduated in kilograms (mass), which is the usual case, then it will show
ma/g=5 kg (approximately).
To find the reading on the spring balance, we need to apply 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 its acceleration.
The formula for this is:
Force = mass * acceleration
In this case, we have the mass of the object (10 kg) and the acceleration (5 m/s²), and we need to find the force (reading on the spring balance).
Using the formula, we can substitute the given values:
Force = 10 kg * 5 m/s²
Force = 50 kg m/s²
Since the unit of force is Newton (N), we need to convert kg m/s² to N:
1 N = 1 kg m/s²
Therefore, the reading on the spring balance should be 50 N.