Question

an object near the earth's surface is in a state of free-fall. The object is experiencing a downward force of 170 n. What is the mass of the object?

Answer 1

When an object is under free fall then it means the net force on the object is only due to gravitational attraction force

So here we have

$F_{net} = mg$

so in order to find mass we can use

$m = \frac{F_{net}}{g}$

here given that net force on the object is

F = 170 N

$m = \frac{170}{9.8}$

$m = 17.35 kg$

so the mass of the object must be 17.35 kg