On my physics home work i have a question that puts the weight in grams, and i need to find the acceleration. I know that the formula is F=ma, and Force is in newtons, mass is in kg and acceleration is in m/s^2. but can you still find the acceleration by using grams with out converting? because when a converted the mass (1.5g) to kg (.0015kg) and then put it throught the equation the answer didn't fit with the problem.
the problem is asking the acceleration of a bug (1.5g) when a spider pulls it by a massless spider silk with .001N.
when i put in the formula without converting i get .0073m/s^2. which seems plausible.
but when i convert i get 7.3m/s^2. which would make a VERY fast spider....
so i guess my question is just:
do you HAVE to convert in order to get the correct answer
oops. correction. the spider is pulling with .011N. NOT .001
Maggie, you on the right way but I don't understand how did you get both the values.
The solution is
a = F/m = 1*10^(-3)/1.5*10^(-3)= 1/1.5 = (2/3) m/s^2 = 0.67 m/s^2.
Not a big deal:
a = 1.1*10^(-2)/1.5*10^(-3) =
= (1.1/1.5)*10 = 7.3 m/s^2
Good for a spider!
a= F/m=0.001/1.5•10⁻³=0.67 m/s²
In physics, it is important to use consistent units in calculations to ensure accurate results. While it is possible to solve problems without converting units, it is generally recommended to convert the units to the standard SI units (kilograms for mass and meters per second squared for acceleration) to avoid confusion and obtain correct answers.
In your specific case, you correctly recognized that the formula for force is F = ma, where F is the force in newtons, m is the mass in kilograms, and a is the acceleration in meters per second squared.
Now, let's address the discrepancy in your calculation. When you converted the mass from grams to kilograms, you correctly multiplied it by 0.001, resulting in 0.0015 kilograms. However, it seems that you made an error in your calculation for acceleration.
Using the formula F = ma, where F = 0.001 newtons and m = 0.0015 kilograms, we can rearrange the equation to solve for acceleration:
a = F / m
Plugging in the values, we have:
a = 0.001 N / 0.0015 kg
a ≈ 0.6667 m/s² (rounded to four decimal places)
So, the correct acceleration is approximately 0.6667 m/s². It seems there was a mistake in your calculation when converting the units, rather than an issue with whether or not to convert.
To summarize, it is advisable to convert units to the standard SI units for consistent calculations. However, you can still obtain correct results without converting, as long as you perform the calculations correctly while maintaining consistency with the units used.