Question

How fast will an object with a mass of `16 kg` accelerate if a force of `8 N` is constantly applied to it?

Answer 1

`a = 0.5 m/s^2`

Explanation:

Knowing an object's mass and the net force acting on it, we can find the acceleration using Newton's 2nd Law. The formula that applies Newton's 2nd Law is `F = m*a`.

Solving for `a` gives us

`a = F/m`

The force on the 16 kg object is 8 N, plugging that data into the last equation

`a = (8 N)/(16 kg) = 0.5 m/s^2`

I hope this helps,
Steve

Answer 2

`0.5 \ "m/s"^2`

Explanation:

Newton's second law states that

`F=ma`, where `m` is the mass of the object in kilograms, and `a` is the acceleration of the object in `"m/s"^2`.

So, we need to solve for acceleration, and we rearrange the equation into:

`a=F/m`

Plugging in the given values, we get

`a=(8 \ "N")/(16 \ "kg")`

`=0.5 \ "m/s"^2`