How much force does a 80 kg astronaut exert on his chair while accelerating straight up at 10 m/s^2?

Question

Please show your work. Thank you.

The correct answer should be 1580 N.

Answer 1

I'm not sure there is enough information in the question to answer it. We need to know the altitude of the astronaut when he is accelerating. The answer implies that the astronaut is at sea level (see the other answer, where the user adds 9.81, or the sea-level gravitational acceleration). However, if the astronaut is in space, then the acceleration due to earth's gravity is reduced significantly.

So in showing your work, I'd recommend at least stating the assumption that the astronaut is at sea level.

Answer 2

(80 kg)((10 +9.81) m/s^2) = 1584.8 N ≈ 1580 N