Question #08420
1 Answer
Newton's second law of motion is mathematically interpreted as
where
-
#SigmavecF# is the net force acting on an object, typically in#"N"# -
#m# is the mass of the object, in#"kg"# -
#veca# is the acceleration of the object, in#"m"/("s"^2)#
Some key things to know are:
If a net force acts on an object, there is always an acceleration produced.
If an object is accelerating (changing its velocity in any way), there must always be some net force acting on it to produce that acceleration.
The direction of the net force on an object is always the direction of its acceleration.
If an object is sliding on a surface, there is always some friction force present, and this force always opposes the direction of sliding.
Let's say an object with a mass of
The net horizontal force experienced by this object is
The friction force is negative because it always opposes the direction of motion.
You could also calculate the acceleration of this object, with its mass known as
Another property about friction you may want to know is that the magnitude of the friction force is never greater than the magnitude of the vector sum of the other forces.
If this were true, an object could completely resist being pushed or pulled in some direction. That is to say, if you're pushing an object at, for example,