Remember that Newton’s Second Law can be written as F = m ᐧ a.

Question

(Force = mass x acceleration)

Calculate the force of a wrecking ball that weighs 1,000 kilograms and is accelerating at 12 meters per second squared.

Answer 1

To calculate the force exerted by the wrecking ball using Newton's Second Law, you can use the formula:

\[ F = m \cdot a \]

Where:

• \( F \) is the force,
• \( m \) is the mass (in kilograms),
• \( a \) is the acceleration (in meters per second squared).

Given:

• \( m = 1000 \) kg (mass of the wrecking ball),
• \( a = 12 \) m/s² (acceleration).

Plugging in the values:

\[ F = 1000 , \text{kg} \cdot 12 , \text{m/s}² \] \[ F = 12000 , \text{N} \]

So, the force of the wrecking ball is 12,000 Newtons.