A block of wood of mass 5kg is pulled on a platform by a force of 40N as illustrated in the diagram above. If the frictional force, F experienced by the blo...

A block of wood of mass 5kg is pulled on a platform by a force of 40N as illustrated in the diagram above. If the frictional force, F experienced by the block is 12N, calculate the magnitude of the acceleration of the acceleration of the block

Answer Details

To calculate the acceleration of the block, we need to apply Newton's second law of motion, which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on the object and inversely proportional to its mass. Mathematically, this is expressed as a = F_net/m, where a is the acceleration, F_net is the net force, and m is the mass of the object. In this problem, the net force acting on the block is the difference between the applied force and the frictional force, i.e., F_net = F_applied - F_friction = 40N - 12N = 28N. Therefore, the acceleration of the block is a = F_net/m = 28N/5kg = 5.6ms^-2. Therefore, the correct option is 5.6ms^-2.