Answer:
Zero
Explanation:
According to Newton's second law of motion, the net force on an object is equal to the product of its mass and its acceleration:
[tex]F=ma[/tex] (1)
where
F is the net force
m is the mass
a is the acceleration
For the stone in this problem, we have:
m = 2.5 kg is its mass
We are also told that the velocity of the stone is constant (1.2 m/s): we know that the acceleration is equal to the rate of change of velocity, therefore, this means that the acceleration (because the change in velocity is zero):
[tex]a=0[/tex]
Therefore, from equation (1), we get that the total net force on the stone is zero:
[tex]F=0[/tex]
Which means that the upward force on the stone balances the downward force of gravity.
