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A force of 240 N is used to pull a 60 kg sled along snow-covered flat ground. If the friction coefficient is 0.28, then find the acceleration.

User TheEagle
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Final answer:

The acceleration of the sled is 1.256 m/s², which is found by using Newton's second law and accounting for the force of friction due to the coefficient of kinetic friction on the snow.

Step-by-step explanation:

To calculate the acceleration of the sled, we use Newton's second law of motion, which is F = ma, where F is the net force acting on the sled, m is the mass of the sled, and a is the acceleration of the sled.

First, we need to calculate the force of friction, which is Ffriction = μN, where µ is the coefficient of friction and N is the normal force.

For objects on flat ground, the normal force is equal to the weight of the object, N = mg, where g is the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s2).

In this case, the frictional force Friction is 0.28 times 60 kg times 9.8 m/s2, which equals 164.64 N.

The net force is then the applied force minus the frictional force, which is 240 N - 164.64 N, giving us 75.36 N.

Finally, we apply Newton's second law to find the acceleration: a = F/m.

Using the net force and the mass, we get 75.36 N / 60 kg, which equals 1.256 m/s2.