How do you calculate acceleration of gravity?

1 Answer
Jun 10, 2014

Assume that air resistance is negligible. Equate the resultant force to the weight and then we get: #a=g#.


We can use the simplified version of Newton's Second Law, #F=ma#. This relates the resultant force acting on the object to its acceleration.

As air resistance is neglected the only force acting is the weight, so #F=w#.

#w=mg#, where #g# is the gravitational field strength #9.8 Nkg^-1#.

#F=mg#, now use Newton's Second Law: #ma=mg#. The mass is the same on both sides of the equation: #⇒a=g=9.8 ms^-2#