A Qualitative Description of Newton's Second Law of Motion
Newton's Second Law of Motion states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net (total) force acting on the object and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. In normal-person terms, this means that if you push harder on an object, it will accelerate more, or if you push with the same force on two objects with different masses, the less massive object will accelerate more than the more massive object.
In addition, Newton's Second Law of Motion tells us that the direction of acceleration of the object is the same as the direction of the net force acting on the object. |
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According to the "Acceleration and Relative Motion" reading assignment, acceleration can be one or more of the following kinds of motion:
Thus, any time there is a non-zero net force acting on a system (or an object), the system will do one or more of the following:
Note: When an object starts to move, it is speeding up. When an object is stopping moving, it is slowing down.
- speeding up,
- slowing down, or
- changing direction.
Thus, any time there is a non-zero net force acting on a system (or an object), the system will do one or more of the following:
- speed up,
- slow down, or
- change direction.
Note: When an object starts to move, it is speeding up. When an object is stopping moving, it is slowing down.