Newton's Second Law of Motion
Cars Being Pulled (F = ma)
Cars on a level air track are pulled with several different forces.
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- Air track
- Three identical air track cars
- Spring to pull the cars
- Springs to attach the cars together
Three separate masses are successively pulled on a horizontal air track, each time with a different force. The forces and masses are each given in arbitrary units of 1, 2, and 3. Nine different accelerations are estimated. The results are shown to satisfy Newton's second law of motion.
Cars Released and Collide
Two cars of different masses are allowed to explode apart, or allowed to collide.
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- Air track
- Cars of different masses
Two cars of different masses are allowed to explode apart or subsequently allowed to collide elastically. The smaller mass is observed to have the greater acceleration. Since the magnitude of the net force on either car is the same, the acceleration is shown to vary inversely with the mass, in accordance with Newton's second law of motion.