High School

A cyclist has a momentum of 771.9 kg·m/s. If her mass is 93 kg, what is the speed of the cyclist?

A. 12.1 m/s
B. 13.2 m/s
C. 4.4 m/s
D. 8.3 m/s

Answer :

Certainly! To find the speed of the cyclist, we need to use the concept of momentum. Momentum is defined as the product of an object's mass and its velocity. The formula to calculate momentum is:

[tex]\[ \text{momentum} = \text{mass} \times \text{velocity} \][/tex]

In this problem, we are given that the momentum of the cyclist is 771.9 kg m/s, and her mass is 93 kg. We want to find her speed, which is the same as finding her velocity.

To find the velocity, we can rearrange the momentum formula to solve for velocity:

[tex]\[ \text{velocity} = \frac{\text{momentum}}{\text{mass}} \][/tex]

Now plug in the values:

[tex]\[ \text{velocity} = \frac{771.9}{93} \][/tex]

When you do the division:

[tex]\[ \text{velocity} = 8.3 \, \text{m/s} \][/tex]

Therefore, the speed of the cyclist is 8.3 m/s, which corresponds to option D.