High School Physics : Understanding Newton's Second Law

Study concepts, example questions & explanations for High School Physics

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Example Questions

Example Question #13 : Newton's Laws

A net force  acts on a mass  and produces an acceleration .  What is the new acceleration if the force is doubled  and the mass is quadrupled.

 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Newton's second law states that force is a mass times an acceleration.

 

 

Assuming that all the original values were equal to 

 

 

We can substitute in new values for a doubled force and quadrupled mass to find the new acceleration.

 

 

 

This shows that the new acceleration will be  of the original value or equal to a/2.

 

 

Example Question #11 : Newton's Laws

Which of these is necessary for there to be a non-zero net force? 

Possible Answers:

Non-zero frictional force

Non-zero net acceleration

Non-zero net torque

Non-zero net displacement

An equal and opposite reaction

Correct answer:

Non-zero net acceleration

Explanation:

Newton's second law states that force is a mass times an acceleration.

 

 

In order for a force to exist, there must be an acceleration applied to a mass. A force cannot exist on a massless object, nor can it exist without a net acceleration.

 

Newton's third law states that for every force on an object, there is an equal and opposite force from the object. These forces frequently cancel out, however, and produce a net force of zero.

 

Example Question #13 : Understanding Newton's Second Law

 A person jumps from the roof of a house  high.  When he strikes the ground below, he bends his knees so that his torso decelerates over an approximate distance of .  If the mass of his torso (excluding legs) is , find the average force exerted on his torso by his legs during deceleration.

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To solve this problem we need to divide up the situation into two parts.  During the first part the person is jumping from the roof of a house and is therefore undergoing freefall and accelerated motion due to the force of gravity.  Therefore we will need to use kinematic equations to solve for the final velocity as the person lands.  In the second part of the problem, the person decelerates their torso through a specific distance and comes to a stop.  We will then need to calculate the acceleration of the torso during this second part to determine the average force applied.

Let us start with kinematics to determine the speed of the torso as it hits the ground.

 

Knowns

 

We can use the kinematic equation

This is the velocity of the torso as it hits the ground.  We will know use the same equation with new variables to determine the acceleration of the torso as it comes to a stop.

 

Knowns

Rearrange to get the acceleration by itself

 

 

 

We can now plug this into Newton’s 2nd Law to find the average force acting on the object.

 

 

Example Question #21 : Newton's Laws

ball rests on a flat table. What is the normal force exerted on the ball by the table? 

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

Newton's second law allows us to solve for the force of gravity on the ball:

 

 

Newton's third law tells us that the force of the ball on the table, due to gravity, will be equal and opposite to the normal force of the table on the ball.

 

 

Substitute the equation for force of gravity.

 

Now we can use the mass of the ball and the acceleration of gravity to solve for the normal force. First, convert the mass to kilograms. Then, use the equation to find the normal force.

 

 



Example Question #22 : Newton's Laws

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Suppose your car was stuck deep in the mud and you wanted to use the method above to pull it out. What force would you have to exert perpendicular to the center of the rope to produce a force of 12,000 N on the car if the angle that the rope is bent from the horizontal is 3 degrees?

Possible Answers:

Correct answer:

Explanation:

To determine this we would first need to determine the vertical component of the  force acting on the car.  To do this we would use the sine trigonometric function.

The pull in the vertical direction must be at least  to pull the car.  However, we also know there is another equal force on the tree on the other side of the pull.  Therefore the total pull must be double this value in order to pull both the tree and the car equally.

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