How does acceleration depend on mass

Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass. Whatever alteration is made of the net force, the same change will occur with the acceleration. Double, triple or quadruple the net force, and the acceleration will do the same. On the other hand, whatever alteration is made of the mass, the opposite or inverse change will occur with the acceleration.

Double, triple or quadruple the mass, and the acceleration will be one-half, one-third or one-fourth its original value. As stated above , the direction of the net force is in the same direction as the acceleration. Thus, if the direction of the acceleration is known, then the direction of the net force is also known. Consider the two oil drop diagrams below for an acceleration of a car.

From the diagram, determine the direction of the net force that is acting upon the car. Then click the buttons to view the answers. If necessary, review acceleration from the previous unit.

See Answer The net force is to the right since the acceleration is to the right. An object which moves to the right and speeds up has a rightward acceleration. See Answer The net force is to the left since the acceleration is to the left.

An object which moves to the right and slows down has a leftward acceleration. In conclusion, Newton's second law provides the explanation for the behavior of objects upon which the forces do not balance. Press ESC to cancel. Skip to content Home Physics Does acceleration depend on mass?

Ben Davis February 17, Does acceleration depend on mass? What is the difference between speed and velocity? What is the difference between acceleration and retardation? What is the relationship between position and velocity?

What is the slope of position-time graph? What is the integral of position? What does an integral tell you? Is there an integral of distance? What is the integral relationship between position and acceleration? Is a DV DT? Can a position be negative? What does it mean if a position is negative? Newton's second law says that when a constant force acts on a massive body, it causes it to accelerate, i. In the simplest case, a force applied to an object at rest causes it to accelerate in the direction of the force.

However, if the object is already in motion, or if this situation is viewed from a moving inertial reference frame, that body might appear to speed up, slow down, or change direction depending on the direction of the force and the directions that the object and reference frame are moving relative to each other.

The bold letters F and a in the equation indicate that force and acceleration are vector quantities, which means they have both magnitude and direction. The force can be a single force or it can be the combination of more than one force. It is rather difficult to imagine applying a constant force to a body for an indefinite length of time.

In most cases, forces can only be applied for a limited time, producing what is called impulse. View it like this: What gravity does is to pull in every single "particle" equally. If there are double as many "particles", then the pull in each is still the same and each accelerates the same amount. Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why does acceleration due resulting force depends on mass while acceleration due gravity doesn't? Ask Question. Asked 4 years, 3 months ago. Active 4 years, 3 months ago.

Viewed 2k times. Improve this question. I can't get the real question. Add a comment. Active Oldest Votes.