What is the correct net force needed to increase a car's velocity in 30 seconds?

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SUMMARY

The net force required to increase a car's velocity from 20 km/h (5.56 m/s) to 50 km/h (13.89 m/s) in 30 seconds, given a mass of 150 kg, is calculated using the formula F = m * (Δv/Δt). The correct calculation yields a force of 41.65 N, which should be rounded to two significant figures, resulting in a final answer of 42 N. The discussion highlights the importance of significant figures in physics calculations.

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Sko
I'm doing some problems I found here:

http://library.thinkquest.org/10796/ch4/ch4q.htm

A car is moving at a constant velocity of 20 km/h (5.56 m/s). How much net force is required to raise its velocity to 50 km/h (13.89 m/s) in 30 seconds? Suppose the car has a mass of 150 kg.

I used F= (150kg)([13.89m/s-5.56m/s]/30s)
and got 41.65 N but apparently that's wrong. What am I doing wrong?
 
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The only thing you're doing wrong is writing your answer with too many significant digits. :smile: Round off to two digits.
 
Ha! My phsycis teacher doesn't make us use significant figures (chem teacher did last year) so I completely forgot to do that :P
 

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