High School

A 4.57-kg cat, chasing his sister, slides directly into a refrigerator. His speed immediately before the collision is 3.19 m/s. What is the magnitude of the average net force that brings him to a stop in 124 ms ?

Answer :

The magnitude of the average net force that brings the cat to a stop is approximately 117.47 N.

To find the magnitude of the average net force that brings the cat to a stop, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the net force acting on an object is equal to the product of its mass and acceleration.

First, we need to calculate the acceleration of the cat. We can use the equation:

acceleration = (final velocity - initial velocity) / time

Given that the initial velocity of the cat is 3.19 m/s, the final velocity is 0 m/s (as the cat comes to a stop), and the time taken to stop is 124 ms (which is 0.124 seconds), we can plug in these values:

acceleration = (0 m/s - 3.19 m/s) / 0.124 s

Simplifying this expression gives us:

acceleration = [tex]-25.725 m/s^2[/tex]

(Note that the negative sign indicates that the acceleration is in the opposite direction of the initial velocity.)

Now that we have the acceleration, we can calculate the net force using the equation:

net force = mass x acceleration

Given that the mass of the cat is 4.57 kg, we can plug in the values:

net force = [tex]4.57 kg x -25.725 m/s^2[/tex]

Calculating this expression gives us:

net force = -117.47285 N

The magnitude of the net force is the absolute value of the net force. Therefore, the magnitude of the average net force that brings the cat to a stop is approximately 117.47 N.

Learn more about Newton's second law from this link:

https://brainly.com/question/25545050

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