Question

When a parachute opens, the air exerts a large drag force on it. This upward force is initially greater than the weight of the sky diver and, thus, slows him down. Suppose the weight of the sky dicer is 915 newtona and the drag force has a magnitude of 1027 newtons. The mass of the sky diver is 93.4kg. What are the magnitudee and direction of his acceleration?

Answer 1

The magnitude of the skydiver's acceleration is approximately 1.20 m/s² upward.

Step-by-step explanation:

When a parachute opens, the air exerts a large drag force on it. This upward force is initially greater than the weight of the skydiver and slows them down. To find the magnitude and direction of the skydiver's acceleration, we can use Newton's second law, which states that the acceleration of an object is equal to the net force acting on it divided by its mass.

For the skydiver, the net force is the drag force minus their weight. We subtract the weight because it acts in the opposite direction of the drag force. So the net force is 1027 N - 915 N = 112 N (upward).

The mass of the skydiver is given as 93.4 kg. Plugging these values into the formula for acceleration, we have:

acceleration = net force / mass

acceleration = 112 N / 93.4 kg

acceleration ≈ 1.20 m/s² (upward)