Forces that Accelerate

This past week in physics we have been talking about Newton’s Laws of Motion. Newton’s 2^nd Law of motion that states that acceleration is directly proportional to the net force of an object, and that acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass of an object. This is easier to explain with the equation Fnet=ma, where Fnet is the sum of all forces, m is mass, and a is acceleration. This can also be written as a=Fnet/m. This equation can be used to find the total force, mass, or acceleration of many situations according to what is given. The picture below is my foot kicking my skateboard that is rolling at me. Another one of Newton’s Laws states that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, equal in magnitude and opposite in direction. This means that the total force (Fnet) of my foot hitting my board and my board hitting my foot is equal.

Assuming that my foot has a greater acceleration than my board, I can find out that my board has a greater mass than my foot.

Fnet_foot=Fnet_board

ma_foot=ma_board

(smaller mass)(bigger acceleration)=(bigger mass)(smaller acceleration)

equal and opposite forces