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  • Define net force, external force, and system.
  • Understand Newton’s second law of motion.
  • Apply Newton’s second law to determine the weight of an object.

Newton’s second law of motion    is closely related to Newton’s first law of motion. It mathematically states the cause and effect relationship between force and changes in motion. Newton’s second law of motion is more quantitative and is used extensively to calculate what happens in situations involving a force. Before we can write down Newton’s second law as a simple equation giving the exact relationship of force, mass, and acceleration, we need to sharpen some ideas that have already been mentioned.

First, what do we mean by a change in motion? The answer is that a change in motion is equivalent to a change in velocity. A change in velocity means, by definition, that there is an acceleration    . Newton’s first law says that a net external force causes a change in motion; thus, we see that a net external force causes acceleration .

Another question immediately arises. What do we mean by an external force? An intuitive notion of external is correct—an external force    acts from outside the system    of interest. For example, in [link] (a) the system of interest is the wagon plus the child in it. The two forces exerted by the other children are external forces. An internal force acts between elements of the system. Again looking at [link] (a), the force the child in the wagon exerts to hang onto the wagon is an internal force between elements of the system of interest. Only external forces affect the motion of a system, according to Newton’s first law. (The internal forces actually cancel, as we shall see in the next section.) You must define the boundaries of the system before you can determine which forces are external . Sometimes the system is obvious, whereas other times identifying the boundaries of a system is more subtle. The concept of a system is fundamental to many areas of physics, as is the correct application of Newton’s laws. This concept will be revisited many times on our journey through physics.

(a) A boy in a wagon is pushed by two girls toward the right. The force on the boy is represented by vector F one toward the right, and the force on the wagon is represented by vector F two in the same direction. Acceleration a is shown by a vector a toward the right and a friction force f is acting in the opposite direction, represented by a vector pointing toward the left. The weight W of the wagon is shown by a vector acting downward, and the normal force acting upward on the wagon is represented by a vector N. A free-body diagram is also shown, with F one and F two represented by arrows in the same direction toward the right and f represented by an arrow toward the left, so the resultant force F net is represented by an arrow toward the right. W is represented by an arrow downward and N is represented by an arrow upward; both the arrows have same length.           (b) A boy in a wagon is pushed by a woman with a force F adult, represented by an arrow pointing toward the right. A vector a-prime, represented by an arrow, depicts acceleration toward the right. Friction force, represented by a vector f, acts toward the left. The weight of the wagon W is shown by a vector pointing downward, and the Normal force, represented by a vector N having same length as W, acts upward. A free-body diagram for this situation shows force F represented by an arrow pointing to the right having a large length; a friction force vector represented by an arrow f pointing left has a small length. The weight W is represented by an arrow pointing downward, and the normal force N, is represented by an arrow pointing upward, having the same length as W.
Different forces exerted on the same mass produce different accelerations. (a) Two children push a wagon with a child in it. Arrows representing all external forces are shown. The system of interest is the wagon and its rider. The weight w size 12{w} {} of the system and the support of the ground N size 12{N} {} are also shown for completeness and are assumed to cancel. The vector f size 12{f} {} represents the friction acting on the wagon, and it acts to the left, opposing the motion of the wagon. (b) All of the external forces acting on the system add together to produce a net force, F net size 12{F rSub { size 8{"net"} } } {} . The free-body diagram shows all of the forces acting on the system of interest. The dot represents the center of mass of the system. Each force vector extends from this dot. Because there are two forces acting to the right, we draw the vectors collinearly. (c) A larger net external force produces a larger acceleration ( a′ > a ) when an adult pushes the child.

Now, it seems reasonable that acceleration should be directly proportional to and in the same direction as the net (total) external force acting on a system. This assumption has been verified experimentally and is illustrated in [link] . In part (a), a smaller force causes a smaller acceleration than the larger force illustrated in part (c). For completeness, the vertical forces are also shown; they are assumed to cancel since there is no acceleration in the vertical direction. The vertical forces are the weight w size 12{w} {} and the support of the ground N size 12{N} {} , and the horizontal force f size 12{f} {} represents the force of friction. These will be discussed in more detail in later sections. For now, we will define friction    as a force that opposes the motion past each other of objects that are touching. [link] (b) shows how vectors representing the external forces add together to produce a net force, F net size 12{F rSub { size 8{"net"} } } {} .

Practice Key Terms 7

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Source:  OpenStax, Abe advanced level physics. OpenStax CNX. Jul 11, 2013 Download for free at http://legacy.cnx.org/content/col11534/1.3
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