Question

Sophia, whose mass is 52 kg, experienced a net force of 1800 N at the bottom of a roller coaster loop during her school's physics field trip to the local amusement park. Determine Sophia's acceleration at this location.

Answer 1

To solve this problem, you need to apply Newton's second law of motion, which states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. The formula is represented as F = ma, where F is the net force, m is the mass and a is the acceleration.

Here, the net force 'F' acting on Sophia while at the bottom of the roller coaster loop is given as 1800N and her mass 'm' is given as 52kg.

We want to find out 'a', the acceleration, so we need to rearrange the formula to 'a = F / m'.

Simple substitution,

a = 1800N / 52kg

When we solve for the acceleration, we get approximately,

34.62 m/s^2

Hence, Sophia's acceleration at the bottom of the roller coaster is roughly 34.62 m/s^2.