Physics forces that are frictionless

princess2_monjo · #1 Sep 15, 2009, 08:20 PM

The horizontal surface on which the block of mass 2.7 kg slides is frictionless. The force of 38N acts on the block in a horizontal direction. The force is 76N acts on the block at an angle of 60 degrees. The accleration of gravity is 9.8m/2. What is the magnitude of the resulting accleration of the block? answer in units of m/s2

ebaines · Sep 16, 2009, 06:42 AM

It sounds like you have 38N pushing directly on the block, and a force of 76N which has a horizontal component of 76N*cos(60) and a vertical component of 76N*sin(60) - is that right? In this case you can determine the horizontal acceleration by adding the two horizontal forces acting on the block and setting this equal to mass * acceleration. The force of gravity has nothing to do with it, given that you are only interested in horizontal acceleration and the surface is frictionless.



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