Question

An astronaut, of mass 95.0 kg, sits on a newton scale as the shuttle takes off. The newton scale reads 5500 N. What is the acceleration of the shuttle?

Answer 1

Given data:

* The mass of the astronaut is m = 95 kg.

* The force read by the Newton scale when the shuttle takes off is F = 5500 N.

Solution:

According to Newton's second law, the force on the astronaut in terms of the acceleration and mass is,

$\begin{gathered} F=\text{ma} \\ a=\frac{F}{m} \end{gathered}$

Substituting the known values,

$\begin{gathered} a=\frac{5500}{95} \\ a=57.9ms^{-2} \\ a\approx58ms^{-2} \end{gathered}$

The shuttle and the astronaut are moving with the same acceleration.

Thus, the acceleration of the shuttle is 58 meters per second squared.