A nail gun fires a nail into a piece of wood The nail is goi

A nail gun fires a nail into a piece of wood. The nail is going a velocity of 6.8 m/s right before entering the wood. The mass of the nail is 0.060 kg. If the nail is accelerated from rest over a distance of 8.5 cm what is the average force on the nail. If the nail is 4.2 cm long and stops after the tip of the nail travel 4.2 cm into the wood, what is the average force on the nail by the wood?

Solution

a) a = v^2 / (2*x) = 6.8^2/(2*0.085) = 272 m/s^2
f=m*a = 0.06*272 = 16.32 N

b) a = v^2 / (2*x) = 6.8^2/(2*0.042) = 550.48 m/s^2
f=m*a = 0.06*550.48 = 33.03 N