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

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?

bobpursley · Accepted Answer

forceup= m*a+m*g

Horatiu · Answer

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

Mary · Answer

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

Someone · Answer

@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.