Question

How much force does an 88 kg astronaut exert on his chair while sitting at rest on the launch pad?
Answer: 860N

Now the question: How much force does the astronaut exert on his chair while accelerating straight up at 14 m/s^2?

What do you do first, how do you go about getting the answer?

Answer 1

forceup= m*a+m*g

Answer 2

You can use F=m(a+g). So F=88(9.8+14)-------->2094.4N

Answer 3

Isn't gravity supposed to be negative?
so the equation should be
F= m(a+(-9.8))

Answer 4

@Mary What you're thinking of is a=-g. That is acceleration due to gravity. In this case, however it would be just 9.8. Gravity alone is represented by g, which equals to 9.8.