Question

A fisherman yanks a fish vertically out of the water with an acceleration of 2.5! !! using very light fishing line that has a breaking strength of 22 n. the fisherman unfortunately loses the fish as the line snaps. what can you say about the mass of the fish?

Answer 1

Two forces act on the fish, and these are:

1) Its weight mg, downwards and 

2) pressure in the string, T, upwards which is 22 N when the string breaks. 
In the result of these two forces, the fish had an acceleration of 2.5 m/s^2 in the upward way. 


So, T - mg = m*2.5

=> m = T / (2.5 + g)

=> m > 22 / (2.5 + 9.8) ( when the string snaps ) 

=> m > 1.79 kg. 

As a result, the mass of the fish is more than 1.79 kg as the line has been broken.