Did you know?
Did you know that the acceleration of gravity, also known as g, is approximately 9.8 m/s^2? This means that a freely falling object near the surface of the Earth will accelerate at a rate of 9.8 meters per second squared.
In the given problem, we are asked to find the magnitude of the total force on an 85 kg driver operating a dragster as it accelerates horizontally from rest to 60 m/s in 7.2 s. To solve this problem, we need to use Newton's second law of motion, which states that force (F) equals mass (m) multiplied by acceleration (a).
Since the dragster is accelerating horizontally, the vertical force due to gravity can be ignored, and we only need to consider the horizontal force.
Using the formula F = ma, we can calculate the force exerted on the driver. The mass of the driver is given as 85 kg, and the acceleration can be calculated by dividing the change in velocity (60 m/s - 0 m/s) by the time interval (7.2 s). Therefore, the acceleration is approximately 8.33 m/s^2.
Finally, we multiply the mass (85 kg) by the acceleration (8.33 m/s^2) to find the magnitude of the total force exerted on the driver. The result is approximately 708.55 Newtons (N). However, the answer should be in units of kiloNewtons (kN). To convert N to kN, we divide the result by 1000.
Therefore, the magnitude of the total force on the driver is approximately 0.709 kN.
