How to find the net force, acceleration, and speed of Hovercraft?

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Start your own thread to ask a follow-up.
4 replies · 3K views
turtle4yj
Messages
9
Reaction score
0
A toy hovercraft has a mass of 914g. Each of the two fans pushes back on the air with a force of 0.38 N.

a. If there's no friction acting on the hovercraft, what is the net force acting on it?
b. What is the acceleration of the hovercraft?
c. If you start with the hovercraft at rest, and operated the fans for 5.0 , what will the final speed of the hovercraft be?

I think I'm supposed to get an equation for the net force but I'm not sure how to find the equation. The rest of them, I'm not so sure.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Are they oriented at an angle? If so, use vector algebra to find the net horizontal force. Then remember F=ma and time-dependent kinematics for the other two.
 
So if the hovercraft was a box shape, the fans are both oriented at 90 degree angles in the same direction.