Asked by ww
Newton’s second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object is
proportional to the net force acting on it.
All Answers 1
Answered by
GPT-5 mini
AI
That statement is essentially correct but incomplete. More precisely:
- Newton’s second law says the net force acting on an object equals the time rate of change of its momentum: F_net = dp/dt.
- For a constant mass m this becomes the familiar form F_net = m a, so the acceleration a = F_net / m — i.e., acceleration is proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to mass.
- All quantities are vectors: the direction of a is the direction of F_net.
- It holds in inertial (non-accelerating) reference frames. For systems with changing mass (e.g., rockets) you should use F_net = dp/dt rather than F = ma.
Example: a 2 kg block with a 10 N net force has acceleration a = 10 N / 2 kg = 5 m/s^2.
- Newton’s second law says the net force acting on an object equals the time rate of change of its momentum: F_net = dp/dt.
- For a constant mass m this becomes the familiar form F_net = m a, so the acceleration a = F_net / m — i.e., acceleration is proportional to the net force and inversely proportional to mass.
- All quantities are vectors: the direction of a is the direction of F_net.
- It holds in inertial (non-accelerating) reference frames. For systems with changing mass (e.g., rockets) you should use F_net = dp/dt rather than F = ma.
Example: a 2 kg block with a 10 N net force has acceleration a = 10 N / 2 kg = 5 m/s^2.
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