Experiment # 14

Study of Newton’s 2nd Law of Motion

OBJECTIVE

To Study Newton’s 2nd law of motion

NEWTON’S LAWS OF MOTION

Newton's First Law

Newton's First Law states that an object will remain at rest or in uniform motion in a straight
line unless acted upon by an external force.
Newton’s Second Law of Motion
“Force is equal to the rate of change of momentum. For a constant mass, force equals mass
times acceleration.”
Newton’s second law can also be stated as,
The acceleration of an object as produced by a net force is directly proportional to the
magnitude of the net force, in the same direction as the net force, and inversely proportional
to the mass of the object.
Fnet = ma or ΣF = ma
Newton's Third Law
Newton's third law: All forces in the universe occur in equal but oppositely directed pairs.

THEORY

Newton’s second law of motion is used to calculate what happens in situations involving
forces and motion, and it shows the mathematical relationship between force, mass,
and acceleration.

From the equation Fnet= ma, we see that force is directly proportional to both mass and
acceleration, which makes sense. To accelerate two objects from rest to the same velocity,
you would expect more force to be required to accelerate the more massive object. Likewise,
for two objects of the same mass, applying a greater force to one would accelerate it to a
greater velocity.

Now, let’s rearrange Newton’s second law to solve for acceleration.

a= Fnet/m or a=ΣF/m

In this form, we can see that acceleration is directly proportional to force, which we write as

a ∝ Fnet
Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, which we write as

a ∝ 1/m.

DETERMINATION OF ACCELERATION OF OBJECTS

CASE 1 – Acceleration due to horizontal motion with friction

CASE 2 – Two masses attached to a pulley with friction
CASE 3 – Two masses attached to a pulley without friction

CASE 4 – Acceleration on an inclined plane with Friction

APPLICATION OF SECOND LAW

Newton’s second law is applied to identify the amount of force needed to make an object
move or make it stop. Following are a few examples that we have listed to help you
understand this point:
Kicking a ball
When we kick a ball, we exert force in a specific direction. The stronger the ball is kicked, the
stronger the force we put on it and the further away it will travel.
Pushing a cart
It is easier to push an empty cart in a supermarket than a loaded one, and more mass requires
more acceleration.
Two people walking
Among the two people walking, if one is heavier than the other, the one weighing heavier will
walk slower because the acceleration of the person weighing lighter is greater.