Calculating Force: Homework Solving

[dagitt]

Homework Statement

a) A race car has a mass of 718 kg. It starts from rest and travels 44.0 m in 3.0 s. The car is uniformly accelerated during the entire time. What net force is exerted on it?

b) As a baseball is being caught, its speed goes from 31.0 m/s to 0.0 m/s in about 0.0050 s.
(First I found out that the baseball's acceleration was -6200).
What are the magnitude and direction of the force acting on it?
What are the magnitude and direction of the force acting on the player who caught it

Homework Equations

a = change in velocity / change in time
F=ma
a = net force / mass

The Attempt at a Solution

a) i used the constant acceleration formula to find "a", then plugged it into the net force formula. my answer was wrong.

b) i have absolutely no idea what force is 'acting' on it, or how to approach the solution to the next two requirements. i simply am not a physics person. any or all help dearly appreciated. thank you

 

[rl.bhat]

Show your calculations. We will see where you have made mistakes.

 

[tomcue]

Hello, it seems like you are having some trouble with your homework problems. Let me help you understand how to approach these problems and find the correct solutions.

a) To find the net force exerted on the race car, we can use the formula F=ma, where F is the net force, m is the mass of the car, and a is the acceleration. Since the car starts from rest and travels a distance of 44.0 m in 3.0 s, we can use the formula a = change in velocity / change in time to find the acceleration. In this case, the change in velocity is the final velocity (v) minus the initial velocity (u), and the change in time is the time it takes for the car to travel the given distance. So, we have a = (v-u)/t = (44.0 m/s - 0 m/s) / 3.0 s = 14.67 m/s^2. Now, we can plug this value of acceleration into the formula F=ma to find the net force exerted on the car. So, F = (718 kg)(14.67 m/s^2) = 10550.06 N. Therefore, the net force exerted on the race car is 10550.06 N.

b) To find the magnitude and direction of the force acting on the baseball, we can use the same formula F=ma. In this case, the acceleration is given as -6200 m/s^2. Since the acceleration is negative, this means that the force is acting in the opposite direction of the motion of the baseball. So, the magnitude of the force is 6200 N and the direction is opposite to the direction of motion.

To find the magnitude and direction of the force acting on the player who caught the baseball, we can use the same formula F=ma. In this case, the acceleration is also -6200 m/s^2, but the mass of the player is different from the mass of the baseball. So, we need to use the formula a = net force / mass to find the net force acting on the player. Since we know the acceleration and the mass of the player, we can rearrange the formula to find the net force. So, F = ma = (6200 kg*m/s^2)(mass of the player). Therefore, the magnitude of the force acting on the player is