A bicycle and its rider have a combined mass of 90kg. The cyclist is accelerating at 0.5m/s^2. What minimum force is he exerting?
F=m•a
F=90kg•0.5m/s^2
F= 45N
However the answer on my answer key says 5×10^1
However the answer on my answer key says 5×10^1 N. I'm confused on how they got that
Oh. That makes sense. I misunderstood and thought 0.5 had 2 significant figures but it has 1. Thank you so much!
16 kg-m/s
To determine the minimum force exerted by the cyclist, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that force (F) is equal to mass (m) multiplied by acceleration (a).
In this case, the combined mass of the bicycle and rider is given as 90 kg. The acceleration is given as 0.5 m/s^2.
So, we can plug these values into the formula:
F = m * a
F = 90 kg * 0.5 m/s^2
F = 45 N
Based on this calculation, the minimum force exerted by the cyclist should be 45 N.
It seems that the answer on your answer key, "5×10^1," is just another way of expressing 50. The notation "5×10^1" means 5 multiplied by 10 to the power of 1, which simplifies to 50. So, both values of 45 N and 50 N are essentially equivalent.
F = m a
F = 90*.5 = 45 N
so I agree with you
Maybe they are rounding to one significant figure because they say 0.5 and not 0.50 ?