Lab: Newton's Second Law Investigation

Purpose – Investigating Newton’s Second Law of Motion.

Materials

 Stopwatch
 PhET Interactive Simulations, University of Colorado Boulder, Forces and Motion: Basics
simulation http://phet.colorado.edu/sims/html/forces-and-motion-basics/latest/forces-and-motion-
basics_en.html

Part 1

Procedure
1. Click the link above. Click the Motion icon.

2. Ensure that the Force and Speed checkboxes in the upper right corner of the screen are
selected.

3. Apply a force of 50 N to the right on the crate. Use a stopwatch to measure how long it takes for
the object to get to the maximum speed. (Watch the speedometer.) Reset the simulation and
repeat these steps with 100 N, 150 N and 200 N of force applied to the right.

Force (N) 50 100 150 200

Time (s) 39.49 19.37 12.87 9.26

4. Reset the simulation. Ensure that the Force and Speed checkboxes are selected.

5. Apply a force of 100 N to the right on the crate, the garbage can and then the refrigerator. Use a
stopwatch to measure how long it takes for each object to get to the maximum speed.

Object Garbage Can Refrigerator Crate

Time taken (s) 39.79 79.76 19.35
6. Discussion
Newton's second law: The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the net force on it and
inversely proportional to its mass.

Explain how your observations illustrate Newton's second law. (6 points)

In this case, we are asked to change the force and mass multiple times while observing the acceleration. I
few observe the data above, we will also see that there’s a pattern of increasing or decreasing in the
change in the data values when mass is changed. For example, in table 1 or question 3, we see that
when force is increased, the time to reach the maximum velocity decreases, which just means
acceleration increases when the force applied increases. But we have got to keep in mind that we have
assumed drag and friction to be zero. Anyways, on a different perspective, now we focus on the second
table or the fifth question where we see different masses being dealt with. For example, as the masses of
objects increases, the time taken to reach the maximum velocity also increases. This clearly shows that
mass opposes the acceleration and that’s due to inertia, the resistance against a motion an object
consists of. The more the mass, the more the inertia. Thus, as the mass increases, the time taken to
accelerate also increases.

Part 2

You may have noticed that this simulation does not account for the force of friction. Let's see what would
happen if friction is considered.

Procedure
1. At the bottom of the screen, click the Friction icon.

2. Ensure that only the Speed checkbox is selected.

3. Move the Friction slider to None. Apply a force of 50 N to the right on the crate. When the crate's
speed reaches about half of its maximum, change the applied force to 0 N and move the Friction
slider to Lots.

Describe what happened to the motion of the crate. (2 points)

When 50 N of force is applied on the crate towards the right, it accelerates quite rapidly towards
the right. There's no friction now so it accelerates until halfway when the friction is maximized and
the force of 50 N is removed by the person. What happens now is the friction opposes the motion
and the crate decelerates until it comes to a halt when the net force is zero, which is made
possible through the max friction!

Discussion
Based on your observations, explain how friction affects motion. (6 points)

Friction is a force between two surfaces that are sliding, or trying to slide, across each other. Friction
always works in the direction opposite to the direction in which the object is moving, or trying to move.
Friction always slows a moving object down. Friction occurs because no surface is perfectly smooth.
Rougher surfaces have more friction between them. Heavier objects also have more friction because they
press together with greater force. Friction produces heat because it causes the molecules on rubbing
surfaces to move faster and have more energy. In this case when we add friction, we see gravel
increasing on the track, those increases the unevenness of the track and that opposes the direction of
motion.

Part 3
Let's continue investigating Newton's second law.

Procedure
1. Stay on the Friction screen that you just used. Reset the simulation.

2. Ensure that the Force, Speed, Values, and Sum of Forces checkboxes are selected.

3. Apply a force of 50 N to the right on the crate.

Describe the crate's motion. (1 point)

The crate doesn’t move because 50 N from friction has cancelled out 50 N by the man, so
resultant force is zero. So, the object stays at rest.

4. Apply a force of 100 N to the right to the crate.

Describe the crate's motion. (1 point)

Same thing again! Sum of forces is still zero as the friction of 100 N cancels the push force of 100
N, and thus the crate is still at rest.

5. Apply a force of 150 N to the right to the crate.

Describe the crate's motion. What is different this time? (2 points)

Ah! This time 150 N is applied and friction is 94 N. Resultant force is 56 N towards the right which
makes the crate accelerate at a constant rate.

6. Apply a force of 200 N to the right to the crate.

Describe the crate's motion. (1 point)

When the force is increased, as usual, the object accelerates faster than before as everything is
same as before but the force as increased. The resultant force is now 106 N (200-94 = 106).
Discussion
Newton's second law: The acceleration of a body is directly proportional to the net force on it and
inversely proportional to its mass.

Explain how your observations illustrate why Newton's second law states that the acceleration of
a body is directly proportional to the net force on it. (Focus on net force in your explanation.) (6
points)

“Newton's second law of motion is F = ma, or net force is equal to mass times
acceleration.”

Newton's second law states that the acceleration of an object is directly related to the net force and
inversely related to its mass. Acceleration of an object depends on two things, force and mass. This
shows that the crate accelerates when there’s a net force. But when that net force increases, it
accelerates even faster. Similarly, if the mass was increased, we would’ve seen that the acceleration
slowed as the mass increased and that’s due to inertia which increases when mass increases and that
opposes motion of an object. Thus it’s stated that acceleration is directly proportional to net force while at
the same time, it’s inversely proportional to mass.
This lab drew on the Introduction to Forces and Newton's Laws lab submitted by Michael Pennisi to PhET Interactive
Simulations. https://phet.colorado.edu/en/contributions/view/4118
License: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/