Calculate Patient's Weight Using Force and Acceleration | Nursing Question"

[Spitting_Camel]

The Question: To lift a patient, four nurses grip the sheet on which the patient is lying and lift upward. If each nurse exerts an upward force of 240N and the patient has an upward acceleration of 0.504m/s^2, what is the weight of the patient?
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Okay so I figure the equation you need to use is F=ma, but you need the weight, not the mass, so I look in my book and find that w=mg. Solving for m, you get m=w/g. Sticking that into F=ma you get F=(w/g)a. Am I right so far?

So with all that I get w=(F/a)g ...am I right?

So plugging in the junk (and I'm not so sure about this anyway)... you get w=(240N/0.504m/s^2)(9.8m/s)=4666.67 (not so sure about the label) and that seems to be a little too much for one dude.

So I guess my questions are: do you have to account for the 4 nurses in any way? Do I have the right idea about plugging the weight equation in? What am I doing wrong? Please point me in the right direction! -Pam

 

[Tide]

If each nurse exerts 240 N force on the patient what is the total force they exert on the patient? What is the total force acting on the patient?

 

[M98Ranger]

Hi Pam,

You are on the right track! The equation for weight is indeed W=mg, where m represents the mass of the object and g represents the acceleration due to gravity (9.8m/s^2 on Earth). However, in this case, we are not directly given the mass of the patient, but we can use the force and acceleration to calculate it.

You correctly identified the equation F=ma, where F represents force, m represents mass, and a represents acceleration. In this case, the force (F) is the combined effort of all four nurses, which is 240N each, for a total of 960N (240N x 4 nurses). The acceleration (a) is given as 0.504m/s^2.

So, we can rearrange the equation to solve for mass (m) by dividing both sides by acceleration (a):

m = F/a

Plugging in the values, we get:

m = 960N/0.504m/s^2 = 1904.76kg

Now, to calculate the weight, we can use the weight equation:

W=mg

Plugging in the mass we just calculated and the acceleration due to gravity (9.8m/s^2), we get:

W = 1904.76kg x 9.8m/s^2 = 18668.33N

So, the weight of the patient is approximately 18668.33N. This may seem like a lot, but remember that this is the combined effort of four nurses lifting the patient.

I hope this helps clarify things for you! Let me know if you have any other questions.