Question

A box rests on a frozen pond, which serves a frictionless horizontal surface. If a fisherman applies a horizontal force with magnitude 48.0 N to the box and produces an acceleration of magnitude 3.00 m/s2, what is the mass of the box?

Answer 1

f=48

a=3

f=ma

m=f/a

m=48/3 = 16

hence the mass of the box is 16kg

Answer 2

Given: A box rests on a frozen pond, which serves as a frictionless horizontal surface. If a fisherman applies a horizontal force with a magnitude of 48.0 N to the box and produces an acceleration of magnitude 3.00 m/s2.

To find: We have to find the mass of the box.

Solution:

According to Newton's second law Force is a multiple of mass to acceleration.

Thus F=m×a

Where F is the horizontal force on the box by the fishermen which is equal to 48N.

a is the acceleration of the box which is equal to 3.0m/s2.

m is the mass of the box.

So, the mass will be-

$m = \frac{48}{3} \\ = 16$

The mass of the box is 16kg.