Rebounding: Basketball Player Exerts 280lbs of Force on Floor

[09mcibrian]

A 250 pound basketball player pushes against the floor with an additional force of 30 pounds in order to accelerate upwards after the rebound. The floor exerts a force back upon the player of ______

A) 30 pounds
B) 220 pounds
C) 250 pounds
D) 280 pounds
E) not enough info to tell


I think it is D because wouldn't you need the same force?

pleasee help mee :)

 

[Hootenanny]

A 250 pound basketball player pushes against the floor with an additional force of 30 pounds in order to accelerate upwards after the rebound. The floor exerts a force back upon the player of ______

A) 30 pounds
B) 220 pounds
C) 250 pounds
D) 280 pounds
E) not enough info to tellI think it is D because wouldn't you need the same force?

pleasee help mee :)

Welcome to Physics Forums.

You are indeed correct. The Baseball player exerts a total force of 280 pounds (250 pounds from his weight and an additional 30 pounds to accelerate upwards), hence by Newton's 3rd law the ground must exert a force of equal magnitude on the player.

 

[thomate1]

I would like to clarify that the answer is actually E) not enough info to tell. This is because the force exerted by the floor on the player would depend on the duration of the push, the player's acceleration, and the coefficient of friction between the player's feet and the floor. Without this information, we cannot accurately determine the force exerted by the floor on the player.