Solve Weight & Free Fall on a Far-Away Planet - Astronaut Problem

Join the discussion
Registration is free. Ask a follow-up in this thread, or start your own.
4 replies · 3K views
youxcrushxme
Messages
22
Reaction score
0
Hey guys, I'm confused about this problem -

On a planet far, far away, an astronaut picks up a rock. The rock has a mass of 5.80 kg, and on this particular planet its weight is 40.0 N. If the astronaut exerts an upward force of 43.3 N on the rock, what is its acceleration?

I thought you just did a=1/m*Fnet. The mass is 5.8, and I thought Fnet would be 43.3n+40N but my answer is not coming out right. If anyone could help me out I'd really appreciate it!
 
Physics news on Phys.org
What about the direction of the forces? Fnet is a vector sum.
 
I wasn't sure about that, I thought maybe -40N because that's it's weight and then the +43.3N because it's being thrown upward but it keeps saying my answer is wrong.
 
You're right. It should be 3.3/5.8 ms^-2 (assuming the data is right). May be you didn't provide the answer to the required number of decimal places.
 
I got it, I think I may have forgotten to make the 40N negative or something...thanks so much!