A bus comes to a slow stop at a stop light. The breaks put a force of 63,000 N on the bus to slow it down. The bust slows down at a rate of 2.3 m/s² . What is the combined mass of the bus and all of the people on the bus?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The formula to find the required force is force = mass in kg × acceleration in m/s².
F=ma
To find the mass of an object we must isolate mass. To do this, we divide both sides by the acceleration
F/a = ma/a
F/a = m
Then we plug in the numbers from the problem.
63000 N / 2.3 m/s2 = 27391 kg which rounds to 27,400 kg
Mass is always positive.

A Bus Comes to a Slow Stop at a Stop