A500 kg dragster accelerates from rest to a final speed of 100 m/s in 400 m (about a quarter of a mile) and encounters an average frictional force of 1200 n. what is its average power output in watts and horsepower if this takes 7.30 s?

In order to accelerate the dragster at a speed , its engine must do a work equal to the increase in kinetic energy of the dragster. Since it starts from rest, the initial kinetic energy is zero, so the work done by the engine to accelerate the dragster to 100 m/s is


however, we must take into account also the fact that there is a frictional force doing work against the dragster, and the work done by the frictional force is:

and the sign is negative because the frictional force acts against the direction of motion of the dragster.

This means that the total work done by the dragster engine is equal to the work done to accelerate the dragster plus the energy lost because of the frictional force, which is :


So, the power delivered by the engine is the total work divided by the time, t=7.30 s:


And since 1 horsepower is equal to 746 W, we can rewrite the power as

(C) +1

Explanation:

Neutrons have no charge, so we can ignore them in this problem. Protons have a 1+ charge, and electrons have a 1- charge. So, the total charge is 10(+1) + 9(-1) = +1.