Question

A 50 kg skater pushed by a friend accelerates 5 m/sec2. How much forcedid the friend apply?

Answer 1

We are asked to determine the force acting upon a person given the mass and acceleration. To do that we will use Newton's second law, that is:

$F=ma$

Where "m" is the mass and "a" is the acceleration. Replacing the given values:

$F=(50\operatorname{kg})(5\frac{m}{s^2})$

Now we solve the product. We need to have into account that the product of the units is defined as N (newtons):

$F=250N$

Therefore, the force is 250 Newtons.