A person weighing 50 kg, who is standing on skates, pushes a ball weighing 2 kg away from himself with a force of 20 N.

A person weighing 50 kg, who is standing on skates, pushes a ball weighing 2 kg away from himself with a force of 20 N. What acceleration does the person and the ball receive in this case?

To find the values of the accelerations of a person and a ball, we apply Newton’s second law: ax = F / mx.

The values of the variables: F – the repulsive force of the ball (F = 20 N); msh is the mass of the ball (mw = 2 kg); mh – human weight (mh = 50 kg).

Calculation: a) acceleration of the ball: ash = F / msh = 20/2 = 10 m / s2;

b) acceleration of a person: ah = F / mh = 20/50 = 0.4 m / s2.

Answer: After pushing off the ball, the person will acquire an acceleration equal to 0.4 m / s2, and the ball – 10 m / s2.