Question

An unbalanced force of 2.5 x 10^3 N is applied to an object with a weight of 3.0 x 10^3 N on a frictionless surface. What is the object's acceleration?

Answer 1

We can find the acceleration of the object from the Newton's Second Law of Motion:

$$F = ma,$$

here, $F$ is the unbalanced force applied to the object, $m = \dfrac{W}{g}$ is the mass of the object, $W$ is the weight of the object, $g$ is the acceleration due to gravity and $a$ is the acceleration of the object.

Then, we get:

$$a = \dfrac{F}{m} = \dfrac{Fg}{W} = \dfrac{2.5 \cdot 10^3 N \cdot 9.8 \dfrac{m}{s^2}}{3.0 \cdot 10^3 N} = 8.16 \dfrac{m}{s^2}.$$

Answer:

$a = 8.16 \dfrac{m}{s^2}.$