Forces that Change Motion Quick Check

Question

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Question
Suppose a man is sitting on a chair and exerting 100 N of force downward, while a spring beneath the chair exerts 150 N of force upward. If you assign a negative value to the downward force, what is the net force of this system?(1 point)
Responses

50 N
50 N

50 kg
50 kg

-50 N
-50 N

250 N

Answer 1

To determine the net force acting on the system, we can take the following steps:

1. Assign the downward force (the man's weight) a value of -100 N.
2. Assign the upward force (the spring force) a value of +150 N.

Now we can calculate the net force (F_net):

\[ F_{\text{net}} = F_{\text{upward}} + F_{\text{downward}} \] \[ F_{\text{net}} = 150 , \text{N} + (-100 , \text{N}) \] \[ F_{\text{net}} = 150 , \text{N} - 100 , \text{N} \] \[ F_{\text{net}} = 50 , \text{N} \]

Therefore, the net force of this system is 50 N.