Question

A car moving at 11 m/s crashes into a tree and stops in 0.34 s.

Calculate the magnitude of the force, in newtons, the seatbelt exerts on a passenger in the car to bring him to a halt. The mass of the passenger is 69.5 kg.
a) 50 N
b) 100 N
c) 150 N
d) 200 N

Answer 1

To find the magnitude of the force the seatbelt exerts on the passenger in the car, we use Newton's second law of motion and calculate the force using the mass, acceleration, and time given. The magnitude of the force is approximately 150 N.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the magnitude of the force the seatbelt exerts on the passenger, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the force (F) acting on an object is equal to the mass (m) multiplied by the acceleration (a): F = ma. In this case, the acceleration can be calculated using the formula: a = (final velocity - initial velocity) / time. Since the car stops, the final velocity is 0 m/s. Plugging in the given values: initial velocity = 11 m/s and time = 0.34 s, we can calculate the acceleration. Now, we plug in the mass of the passenger (69.5 kg) and the calculated acceleration into Newton's second law to find the force. The magnitude of the force the seatbelt exerts on the passenger is approximately 150 N.