The maximum force that a grocery bag can withstand without ripping is 250250 NN. The bag is filled with 2020 kgkg of groceries and lifted with an acceleration of 5.05.0 mm//s^2s2. Do the groceries stay in the bag?

1 Answer
Apr 23, 2018

Yes

Explanation:

We calculate the force that is exerted on the bag using Newton's second law, which states that,

F=maF=ma

  • mm is the mass of the object in kilograms

  • aa is the acceleration of the object in meters per second squared

And so, we got:

F=20 \ "kg"*5 \ "m/s"^2

=100 \ "N"

So, a force of 100 newtons is exerted on the bag. Since that is less than the required 250 newtons needed to rip the bag, then the bag doesn't rip, and so the groceries stay in the bag, due to the normal force exerted on them by the bag.