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marcos is playing tug-of-war with his cat using a stuffed toy. at one instant during the game, marcos pulls on the toy with a force of 22 n, the cat pulls in the opposite direction with a force of 19.5 n, and the toy experiences an acceleration of 6.25 m/s². what is the mass of the toy?

User Grant Zhu
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Final answer:

The mass of the toy is 0.4 kg.

Step-by-step explanation:

To solve this problem, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the net force acting on an object is equal to the product of its mass and acceleration.

Given that the net force on the toy is the difference between the force applied by Marcos and the force applied by the cat:

  • Force applied by Marcos (FMarcos) = 22 N
  • Force applied by the cat (Fcat) = 19.5 N

And the acceleration of the toy (a) is 6.25 m/s².

We can calculate the net force using the formula:

Fnet = FMarcos - Fcat

Substituting the given values:

Fnet = 22 N - 19.5 N = 2.5 N

Now, we can use Newton's second law to find the mass (m) of the toy:

Fnet = m * a

Substituting the values:

2.5 N = m * 6.25 m/s²

Dividing both sides of the equation by 6.25 m/s²:

m = 2.5 N / 6.25 m/s² = 0.4 kg

Therefore, the mass of the toy is 0.4 kg.

User Cesards
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