High School

You paddle a canoe with a force of 156 N. You and the canoe have a combined mass of 220 kg. What is the acceleration of the canoe?

A. [tex]1.4 \, \text{m/s}^2[/tex]
B. [tex]2.3 \, \text{m/s}^2[/tex]
C. [tex]0.7 \, \text{m/s}^2[/tex]
D. [tex]1.1 \, \text{m/s}^2[/tex]

Answer :

To determine the acceleration of the canoe, we can use Newton's second law of motion, which states that the force applied to an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration. The formula is:

[tex]\[ F = m \times a \][/tex]

Where:
- [tex]\( F \)[/tex] is the force applied (in Newtons),
- [tex]\( m \)[/tex] is the mass (in kilograms),
- [tex]\( a \)[/tex] is the acceleration (in meters per second squared).

We need to rearrange this formula to solve for acceleration ([tex]\( a \)[/tex]):

[tex]\[ a = \frac{F}{m} \][/tex]

Given:
- The force applied is 156 N,
- The combined mass of you and the canoe is 220 kg.

Plug these values into the formula:

[tex]\[ a = \frac{156 \, \text{N}}{220 \, \text{kg}} \][/tex]

[tex]\[ a = 0.709 \, \text{m/s}^2 \][/tex]

So, the acceleration of the canoe is approximately [tex]\( 0.7 \, \text{m/s}^2 \)[/tex].

Therefore, the correct answer is:
C. [tex]\(0.7 \, \text{m/s}^2\)[/tex]