Question

A 10.0 kg ball falling at 10.0 m/s hits a mattress and comes to a complete stop in 1 s. What force does the mattress exert to stop the ball?10 N200 N20 N100 N

Answer 1

100 N

Explanation:

By means of Newton's second law we can calculate the force:

`\begin{gathered} F=m\cdot a \\ m\text{ = mass} \\ a\text{ = acceleration} \\ a=(\Delta v)/(t) \\ \text{ replacing } \\ a=\frac{0-10_{}}{1}=-10m/s^2 \end{gathered}`

Knowing the acceleration and the mass, we can plug in to calculate the force, just like this:

`\begin{gathered} F=10\text{ kg }\cdot-\text{ }10m/s^2 \\ F=-100\text{ N} \end{gathered}`

The mattress exerts 100 N to stop the ball.