What is the acceleration of a girl on a skateboard throwing a bowling ball?

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves a girl on a skateboard throwing a bowling ball, focusing on the forces and resulting accelerations according to Newton's laws. The participants are exploring the implications of Newton's Third Law and the relationship between the forces acting on the girl and the bowling ball.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Some participants discuss the forces involved when the girl throws the ball, particularly the reaction force exerted by the ball on the girl. Others question the absence of relevant equations in their textbooks and express confusion about how to approach the problem.

Discussion Status

Participants are actively engaging with the concepts of force and acceleration, with some suggesting that the problem can be understood through common sense and Newton's laws. However, there is a lack of consensus on how to apply these concepts, and some participants express a desire for more direct guidance.

Contextual Notes

Some participants mention that their textbooks do not provide sufficient information on Newton's Third Law, which may be affecting their understanding of the problem. There is also a sense of frustration regarding the complexity of the concepts being discussed.

MoreZitiPlease
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Homework Statement


A girl weighing 30kg is standing motionless on a 2-kg skateboard holding a 7-kg bowling ball. She throws the ball with an avg force of 75N

a.) what is the magnitude of her acceleration?
b.) what is the magnitude of the acceleration of the bowling ball?



Homework Equations





The Attempt at a Solution


a.)0
b.) 75/2
 
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MoreZitiPlease said:

Homework Statement


A girl weighing 30kg is standing motionless on a 2-kg skateboard holding a 7-kg bowling ball. She throws the ball with an avg force of 75N

a.) what is the magnitude of her acceleration?
b.) what is the magnitude of the acceleration of the bowling ball?

The choice of the skateboard that she is standing on is to assure that the motion to follow will take place (essentially) frictionlessly. This is a problem applying Newton's Third Law. If she is applying 75N to the ball when she throws it away, what force does the ball apply to her? Then answer the questions in that light. Keep in mind that during the throw, she and the skateboard will move together.
 
My book doesn't even explain how to do the problem. There arent any equaitons for the 3rd law ( in my book). Do yo know how to do it
 
Newtons Third Law:
[tex]\vec{F_{A on B}}=\vec{-F_{B on A}}[/tex]
 
MoreZitiPlease said:
My book doesn't even explain how to do the problem. There arent any equaitons for the 3rd law ( in my book). Do yo know how to do it

The applied force of the girl against the ball equals the force of the ball against the girl's hands. (This is what the equation Winzer posted says.) So the force acting on her is...?
 
I have never seen that equation before in my life.

Could you tell me what to plug in ? Maybe I can take it from there
 
Don't think of it as just an equation, think of it as common sense as well.
Suppose: you are facing a wall. You chose to push on the wall applying a Force(your feet are firmly planted); however this wall exerts an opposing Force->-F, no? If not, then your hand would go stright through the wall.

Now consider the case you have listed above.
This person exerts a force on the bowling ball. Then this ball would have to provide an opposing force or the girl's hand would go through the ball. However the girl is on a skateboard and that forced gets translated through the motion of the skateboard .
 
I am lost.. maybe it is because it is late

I don't know

I'm about to go to bed. Could you just tell me the answer and I'll come back on (tomorrow afternoon) and you could explain it to me?
 
Last edited:
Ok, let's do this:
[tex]\vec{F_AonB}=\vec{-F_BonA}[/tex] right? Let A be the ball and B be the skateboard and girl.{The minus sign will depend on orientation}
By Newtons second law: F=ma
So.. [tex]m_b\vec{a_b}=-(m_g+m_s)\vec{a}[/tex] b=ball, g=girl, s=skateboard
therefore:
[tex]-\frac{a_b m_b}{m_g+m_s}=a[/tex] This is the acceleration of the girl+skateboard
Do you see it? Can you explain to me why this is?
 
Last edited:
  • #10
No, we never learned that.
 

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