Acceleration (a) results when a force (F) acts on a mass (m). The greater the mass being accelerated, the greater the amount of force needed to accelerate the object or to slow it down (negative acceleration). This is known as Newton's Second Law of Motion.
Newton’s second law describes how changes in force can alter the motion of a body. It states that the rate of change of the momentum of a body is equal in both magnitude and direction to the total force applied to it. The rate of change of momentum is more usually referred to as acceleration, though if the net force is counter to the current motion, the acceleration will be negative, resulting in a deceleration of the object. The law can be summarised as saying that for a given force, the resulting acceleration will be lower for larger masses, or that to achieve the same acceleration an object with a larger mass will require a greater overall force.
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© Copyright Mike Brockington 2004 - 2024 All Rights Reserved
© Copyright Mike Brockington 2004 - 2024 All Rights Reserved