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In addition to the revision notes for Newton's Second Law of Motion on this page, you can also access the following Dynamics learning resources for Newton's Second Law of Motion
Tutorial ID | Title | Tutorial | Video Tutorial | Revision Notes | Revision Questions | |
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4.2 | Newton's Second Law of Motion |
In these revision notes for Newton's Second Law of Motion, we cover the following key points:
All objects move at constant velocity when the forces acting on them are balanced. When forces are not balanced, the resultant force at any object is different from zero. As a result, it will accelerate in the direction of the resultant force. Heavier objects accelerate less that light ones for the same acting force. On the other hand, greater the force, greater the acceleration it causes at the same object.
Newton's Second Law of Motion gives the relationship between force, mass and acceleration. It states that,
"The acceleration an object gains due to the action of a force (or the resultant of some forces) is directly proportional to the force itself and inversely proportional to the mass of the object."
Mathematically, this law is written as:
where F⃗R is the resultant force if there is more than one force acting on the object.
When several forces are acting at an object (especially when forces are at different directions), it is better to start with drawing a force diagram. This helps us understand better the situation and estimate the possible direction of motion prior of making any calculation. A force diagram includes all forces acting at an object despite some of them maybe are not involved in the motion process. When one or more forces do not lie only according one of the basic directions, we can use the components to represent them.
When the object lies on a slope, such as an inclined plane, it is better to rotate the axes in such a direction that one axis fits the plane (any possible motion occurs according this direction) and the other axis is perpendicular to the plane (it fits to the normal force). In this case, only gravitational force needs to split in directions.
Since the situations involving Newton's Second Law of Motion are a bit complicated, it is advisable to use the standard procedure shown below to solve them easier. This procedure consist in 6 steps:
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