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Newton’s Second Law

Unit V – Newton’s Laws of motion

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Newton’s Laws of motion review

 An object will only accelerate if there is a net

force (unbalanced force) acting upon it.
 The presence of an unbalanced force will
accelerate an object
 Changing its speed, its direction, or both its
speed and direction.
 Newton’s second law pertains to the behavior of
objects for which all existing forces are NOT
balanced.
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Newton’s second law
 Thesecond law states that the acceleration of an object is
dependent upon two variables:
 The net force acting upon the object
 The mass of the object.

 The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the

net force acting upon the object and inversely upon the
mass of the object.
 As
force is increased, the acceleration is increased. As the
mass increases, the acceleration decreases.
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Newton’s second law of motion
 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.
 The equation is a = Fnet / m or F net = m x a
 where a is acceleration, F is net force and m is mass of
object
 The NET FORCE must be used in this equation (you
cannot just use any force that is given in the problem, it
must be NET force).
 1 Newton = 1 kg x m/s2
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Newton’s Second Law problems

 Determine the acceleration that results when a 12 N net

force is applied to a 3 kg object and then to a 6 kg object.

 Suppose that a sled is accelerating at a rate of 2 m/s2. If

the net force is tripled and the mass is doubled, then what
is the new acceleration of the sled?
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Misconceptions
 The misconception that to sustain motion requires a continued force.
 Two students are discussing their physics homework prior to class.
They are discussing an object that is being acted upon by two
individual forces (both in a vertical direction); the free-body diagram
for the particular object is shown at the right. During the discussion,
Anna Litical suggests to Noah Formula that the object under
discussion could be moving. In fact, Anna suggests that if friction and
air resistance could be ignored (because of their negligible size), the
object could be moving in a horizontal direction. According to Anna,
an object experiencing forces as described at the right could be
experiencing a horizontal motion as described below. Noah Formula
objects, arguing that the object could not have any horizontal motion
if there are only vertical forces acting upon it. Noah claims that the
object must be at rest, perhaps on a table or floor. After all, says Noah,
an object experiencing a balance of forces will be at rest. Who do you
agree with?
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Finding Acceleration

 Equations useful for solving problems:

 Net Force F net = m x a

 Gravitational Force Fgrav = m x g

 Frictional Force F frict = μ x F norm

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Acceleration Example problems:
 An applied force of 50 N is used to accelerate an object to the right
across a frictional surface. The object encounters 10 N of friction.
Use the diagram to determine the normal force, the net force, the
mass, and the acceleration of the object. (Neglect air resistance.)

Image from The Physics Classroom

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Acceleration Practice problem
 A 5-kg object is sliding to the right and encountering a friction force
that slows it down. The coefficient of friction (μ) between the object
and the surface is 0.1. Determine the force of gravity, the normal
force, the force of friction, the net force, and the acceleration.
(Neglect air resistance.)
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Finding Individual Forces problems

 A rightward force is applied to a 6 kg object to move it

across a rough surface at constant velocity. The object
encounters 15 N of frictional force. Use the diagram to
determine the gravitational force, normal force, net force,
and applied force (neglect air resistance).

Image from the Physics Classroom

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Free fall and air resistance problems

 Acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2

 It is called acceleration of gravity and uses the symbol “g”
 Why do objects that encounter air resistance ultimately
reach terminal velocity and why do more massive objects
fall faster than less mass objects in the presence of air
resistance?
 Must use Newton’s second law of motion to answer the
questions.
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Free fall and air resistance problems

 Freefall is a special type of motion where the only force

acting on the object is gravity.
 In
free fall, all objects will fall with the same rate of
acceleration regardless of their mass.
 Acceleration depends upon two things:
 Force
 Mass
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Free Fall and air resistance problems

 Comparea 1000 kg cow to a 1 kg kitten.

The cow has more mass thus more inertia.
 Cow’s acceleration = 10,000 N / 1000 kg
 Acceleration = 10 m/s/s
 Kitten’s acceleration = 10 N / 1 kg
 Acceleration = 10 m/s/s
 The ratio of Force to mass is the same for
either animal.
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Free fall and air resistance problems

 The ratio is sometimes called the gravitational field

strength and is expressed as 9.8 N/kg.
 Allobjects on earth’s surface will experience this amount
of force (9.8 N) upon every 1 kg of mass of the object.
 Thegravitational field strength differs based upon other
planets. It varies also on the surface of the earth based
upon how close or far away from the equator a person is
or how high the altitude is.
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Falling with Air Resistance

 Airresistance is the result of collisions of the object’s

leading surface with air molecules.
 Air resistance depends upon several factors:
 Speed of the object
 Cross-sectional area of the object

 Increased speeds result in an increased amount of air

resistance. Increased cross-sectional areas result in an
increased amount of air resistance.
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Falling with Air resistance

 As an object falls, it picks up speed. The increase speed

then increases air resistance. The force of air resistance
then balances the force of gravity. At this point the object
has reached it’s terminal velocity. The force of air
resistance equals the force of gravity on the object thus
the object’s velocity is at it’s terminal velocity.
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Two body Problems
 A 5.0-kg and a 10.0-kg box are touching each other. A
45.0-N horizontal force is applied to the 5.0-kg box in
order to accelerate both boxes across the floor. Ignore
friction forces and determine the acceleration of the boxes
and the force acting between the boxes.
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Two body problems
 A man enters an elevator holding two boxes - one on top
of the other. The top box has a mass of 6.0 kg and the
bottom box has a mass of 8.0 kg. The man sets the two
boxes on a metric scale sitting on the floor. When
accelerating upward from rest, the man observes that the
scale reads a value of 166 N; this is the upward force
upon the bottom box. Determine the acceleration of the
elevator (and boxes) and determine the forces acting
between the boxes.
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Works Cited

 The Physics Classroom. (2013). Newton’s Laws Lesson 3.

Retreived from http://www.physicsclassroom.com/Class/newtlaws/
U2l3c.cfm