
Michael W. answered 07/03/14
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Force is mass times acceleration. F=ma. The force is the same (presuming no energy is lost converting from the hammer to the stake, which is not precisely true, but usually too small to significantly affect the result). Therefore mass of hammer times acceleration is equal to mass of stake times acceleration. If the acceleration of the hammer is less than the acceleration of the stake (given in problem), the mass of the hammer must be greater than the mass of the stake to maintain the equality m*a (for hammer) = m*a (for stake).
Hope this helps
Mike