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Newton's Second Law of Motion

For constant mass

ΣF = m a

The acceleration of an object is proportional to the resultant force ΣF acting on the object.ΣF α aBy defining the newton the constant of proportionality is 1.F is the resultant force in newtons (N)
m is the mass in kg
a is the acceleration.
One newton is the amount of forcethat will give an object of mass of 1kgan acceleration of 1ms-2.

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Specification: AQA Physics (7407), AS-level, 3.4.1.5 Newton's laws of motion. Topic: Newtons Laws of Motion.

Key terms in this lesson

Newton's second law of motion
The rate of change of momentum of an object is proportional to the resultant force acting on it, and takes place in the direction of that force.
Momentum
The product of an object's mass and its velocity; a vector quantity, conserved in any interaction provided no external resultant force acts.

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