EXPERIMENT NO.

4
NEWTON’S 2ND LAW OF MOTION
OBJECT:
A verification of Newton’s Second Law of Motion.
THEORY:
Newton’s second law of motion states, whenever an unbalanced force (resultant) acts
upon a body, an acceleration is produced, which is directly proportional to the force and
inversely proportional to the mass of the body, or in symbols and using a consistent system of
units.
F = ma
Where F is the resultant force and “a”, the acceleration. In case of a freely falling body the force,
F is its own weight and a, the acceleration, is equal to the acceleration due to gravity.
The principle involved in determining the acceleration in this experiment is the same as
that in the previous experiment. In the performance of it, there will only be a slight change. The
carriage will not be allowed to fall freely, that is, there will be a net or resultant force acting.
A counterweight, which is exactly equal to the weight of the carriage plus accessories
will be attached to the carriage by means of the flexible cord which will pass over the pulley. See
figure 1. Then a mass m1 will be removed from the counter weight of mass, M and tracings will
be taken for the first trial and for the second trial m 1 will be replaced and another mass, m2 will
be removed. Tracings will again be taken.
Using Newton’s law for both trials, (see figures 2a and 2b), it could easily be seen that
F1 = m1g (1)
And
F2 = m2g (2)
Assuming that the system will have accelerations of a1 and a2 respectively, for each trial then
F1 = (M + M – m1) a1 (3)
And F2 = (M + M – m2) a2 (4)
Since a1 = d1/t2 and a2 = d2/t2 using the same time, t, for both trials, and if the ratios of
equations (1) and (2) and that of (3) and (4) are taken then
 The left side of the equation, its ratio being constant, may be taken as the accepted value.
APPARATUS:
Pulley, flexible cord, pan, set of weight, free fall apparatus and accessories.
PROCEDURE:
Set the free-fall apparatus as shown in figure 1. Ask the instructor for the values of m1
and m2. Take at least three (3) clear tracings for each trial using the procedure stated in the
preceding experiment. Measure the length of every six (6) vibrations and record.

Frequency of tuning fork 100 vibrations/sec.

Mass of Carriage and accessories, M 50 gm.
Number of vibrations measured 6
Time unit used seconds

TRIAL DISTANCES IN CENTIMETERS

S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6
M1 = 1 0.7 cm 1.6 cm 2.5 cm 3.4 cm 4.3 cm 5.2 cm
2 0.9 cm 2.1 cm 2.8 cm 3.7 cm 4.6 cm 5.5 cm
Average 1.2 cm 1.9 cm 2.7 cm 5.3 cm 4.5 cm 5.4 cm
M2 = 1 1.4 cm 2.4 cm 3.3 cm 4.5 cm 5.6 cm 6.8 cm
2 1.3 cm 2.5 cm 3.7 cm 4.9 cm 6.1 cm 7.2 cm
Average 1.4 cm 2.5 cm 5.2 cm 7.0 cm 8.7 cm 10 cm

TRIAL 1 d1 = 2.7 cm
TRIAL 2 d2 = 3.5 cm m1 ( M + M −m1 ) a1
= =¿
m2 ( M + M −m2 ) a2

0.8 = 0.8
ERROR = 17 %
m 1 (M + M −m1 )a1
= (5)
m 2 ( M + M −m2 ) a2
COMPUTATIONS:
1. Solve for the difference. Using the same principle as in the previous experiment,
find the value of d, in both trials.
2. Find the error.