A tennis player hits a 0.1-kilogram tennis ball with her racket from the north end of a court. Her racket was traveling at 65 kilometers per hour. The ball accelerated at a rate of 10 meters per second squared. The ball hits the floor on the south end of the tennis court. The floor sends the ball toward the tennis player's opponent with the same acceleration. How much force did the floor on the south end of the court exert on the ball?

A. 1 N

B. 7.5 N

C. 0.01 N

D. 6.5 N

1 answer

To determine the force exerted by the floor on the ball, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that force (F) equals mass (m) multiplied by acceleration (a), or F = ma.

First, we need to convert the racket's speed from kilometers per hour to meters per second. Since 1 kilometer equals 1000 meters and 1 hour equals 3600 seconds, the racket's speed can be written as:

65 kilometers per hour * (1000 meters per kilometer) / (3600 seconds per hour) = 18.0556 meters per second (rounded to four decimal places)

Next, we need to determine the mass of the ball. Given that it weighs 0.1 kilograms, we can use this value directly.

Finally, we can multiply the mass of the ball by its acceleration to find the force exerted by the floor:

F = ma
F = (0.1 kilograms) * (10 meters per second squared)
F = 1 newton

Therefore, the floor on the south end of the court exerted 1 newton of force on the ball.

The correct answer is A. 1 N.