Expressing force in terms of weight

MissKaylaPaige

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

According to safety standard for air bags, the maximum acceleration during a car crash should not exceed 60g and should last for no more than 36 ms .In such a case, what force does the air bag exert on a 89.0kg person?

The Answer is 5.23 x10^4

Now what I need to do is express this force in terms of the person's weight.


2. Relevant equations

F=m*a

3. The attempt at a solution

(5.23 x 10^4)/(60 x 9.8)

this is what I thought made sense but it appeared to be incorrect.

Kurdt

All you need to do for this it seems is find the force when an 89Kg person accelerates at 60g. You have given the formula you need to use. I'm not sure what you mean by expressing the force in terms of their weight.

MissKaylaPaige

Well I already found the force but my homework told me to express it in terms of the persons weight. I honestly have no idea what that means...I hoped somebody here would?

PhanthomJay

The persin weighs 'mg' newtons and the force is '60mg' newtons. So what is the force in terms of the weight?

Kurdt

Well the person's weight is given by mg, thus I assume they want the the force in a multiple of the persons weight.

i.e. 5.23 x 10⁴ = a x mg

If you work algebraically you'll see that the mass and the acceleration due to gravity just cancel out and leave you with a familiar number.