11-6

Taylor Husted Period 7 November 6, 2008 Physics Journal Today in class we learned about Newton’s Second Law, which is the law of acceleration. This law has three main parts to it: 1.	When an unbalanced force acts on a particle, the particle accelerates. 2.	The product of the mass and the acceleration of the particle equal the unbalanced force. 3.	The acceleration is in the direction of the unbalanced force. (ΣF = ma) So essentially an unbalanced force creates a particle to move. We were given a worksheet that explained the basic principals of Newton’s 2nd Law of Acceleration. By rearranging the variables in the equation created in the lab earlier this week, Pulling Force (N) = Mass (kg) • Acceleration (m/s•s) + Friction (N), we created a new equation, which is the equation for Newton’s 2nd Law. (1 Newton = 1 kilogram • 1 m/s•s) In easier words, you need 1 Newton of unbalanced force to make a 1kg mass to accelerate at 1 m/s^2. For instance, here are a few variations of the 2nd Law of Motion: 1.	1 Newton = 2 kg • ½ m/s•s 2.	1 Newton = 10 kg • 1/10 m/s•s 3.	1 Newton = 100 kg • 1/100 m/s•s 4.	2 Newton = 1 kg • 2 m/s•s We were then given four problems to work on, two of which we only finished. The first was an example of inertia. This problem reminded us that inertia is based on mass, not on velocity, which confused many. The second problem was bringing up net force. We were to pick out which object was moving at a constant speed in a straight line. The object ended up being