Newton's second law

Newton's second law states that the force applied to a body produces a proportional acceleration; the relationship between the two is

where F is the force applied, m is the mass of the body, and a is the body's acceleration. If the body is subject to multiple forces at the same time, then the acceleration is proportional to the vector sum (that is, the net force):

The second law can also be shown to relate the net force and the momentum p of the body:

Therefore, Newton's second law also states that the net force is equal to the time derivative of the body's momentum:

Consistent with the first law, the time derivative of the momentum is non-zero when the momentum changes direction, even if there is no change in its magnitude (see time derivative). The relationship also implies the conservation of momentum: when the net force on the body is zero, the momentum of the body is constant. This can be said easily. Net force is equal to rate of change of momentum for those who are unfamiliar with calculus. This definition holds even when the speed of the object approaches the speed of light. Both statements of the second law are valid only for constant-mass systems,[14][15][16] since any mass that is gained or lost by the system will cause a change in momentum that is not the result of an external force. A different equation is necessary for variable-mass systems. Newton's second law requires modification if the effects of special relativity are to be taken into account, since it is no longer true that momentum is the product of inertial mass and velocity.

Impulse
An impulse I occurs when a force F acts over an interval of time t, and it is given by

Since force is the time derivative of momentum, it follows that

This relation between impulse and momentum is closer to Newton's wording of the second law. ] Impulse is a concept frequently used in the analysis of collisions and impacts.

Variable-mass systems
Variable-mass systems, like a rocket burning fuel and ejecting spent gases, are not closed and cannot be directly treated by making mass a function of time in the second law. The reasoning, given in An Introduction to Mechanics by Kleppner and Kolenkow and other modern texts, is that Newton's second law applies fundamentally to particles.In classical mechanics, particles by definition have constant mass. In case of a well-defined system of particles, Newton's law can be extended by summing over all the particles in the system:

where Fnet is the total external force on the system, M is the total mass of the system, and acm is the acceleration of the center of mass of the system. Variable-mass systems like a rocket or a leaking bucket cannot usually be treated as a system of particles, and thus Newton's second law cannot be applied directly. Instead, the general equation of motion for a body whose mass m varies with time by either ejecting or accreting mass is obtained by rearranging the second law and adding a term to account for the momentum carried by mass entering or leaving the system.

where u is the relative velocity of the escaping or incoming mass with respect to the center of mass of the body. Under some conventions, the quantity u dm/dt on the left-hand side is defined as a force (the force

exerted on the body by the changing mass, such as rocket exhaust) and is included in the quantity F. Then, by substituting the definition of acceleration, the equation becomes

History of the second law

Newton's Latin wording for the second law is: Lex II: Mutationem motus proportionalem esse vi motrici impressae, et fieri secundum lineam rectam qua vis illa imprimitur. This was translated quite closely in Motte's 1729 translation as: LAW II: The alteration of motion is ever proportional to the motive force impress'd; and is made in the direction of the right line in which that force is impress'd. According to modern ideas of how Newton was using his terminology, this is understood, in modern terms, as an equivalent of:

The change of momentum of a body is proportional to the impulse impressed on the body, and happens along the straight line on which that impulse is impressed.
Motte's 1729 translation of Newton's Latin continued with Newton's commentary on the second law of motion, reading: If a force generates a motion, a double force will generate double the motion, a triple force triple the motion, whether that force be impressed altogether and at once, or gradually and successively. And this motion (being always directed the same way with the generating force), if the body moved before, is added to or subtracted from the former motion, according as they directly conspire with or are directly contrary to each other; or obliquely joined, when they are oblique, so as to produce a new motion compounded from the determination of both. The sense or senses in which Newton used his terminology, and how he understood the second law and intended it to be understood, have been extensively discussed by historians of science, along with the relations between Newton's formulation and modern formulations.

Examples newton second law Example (1): Gravity at the Surface of the Earth Using the universal law of gravity (a subject that goes beyond the present discussion), one can show that the Earth exerts a force of almost 200 Newtons on a rock with a mass of 20 kilograms (about 44 pounds). A Newton is a unit of force equal to kilograms meters/second2. A meter is a little longer than a yard, while a kilogram is a little more than 2 pounds. If the rock is thrown off a cliff, how fast does it accelerate to the ground? Answer: Use Newton's second law a = F/m to find a = (200 Newtons)/(20 kilograms) = 10 Newtons/kilograms = 10 (kilograms meters/second2)/kilograms = 10 meters/second2 Further Discussion: When an object moves in a straight line, such as a rock falling vertically, the acceleration is the change in speed per unit time. Hence, the little computation above tells us that the rock increases its speed at 10 meters/second each second. If the rock is initially released without being thrown, its speed starts out as zero. After one second, its speed becomes 10 meters per second, after two seconds its speed reaches 20 meters per second, after three seconds it is 30 meters per second, and so on. The rock is accelerating at 10 meters/second2 since it is increasing its speed by 10 meters per second each second. One can also determine how far such a rock falls. The distance an object travels is the average speed v times the time of motion t. At one second, the rock's speed is 10 meters/second. Initially, its speed was zero. So during the first second, the rock's average speed is 5 meters/second (the average of 0 meters/second and 10 meters/second). Hence, after one second, the rock falls a distance d of d=vt = (5 meters/second) (1 second) = 5 meters . (1)

How fast does it travel during the first two seconds? The rock's speed at two seconds is 20 meters/second while its initial speed was 0 meters/second. The average of these two speeds is 10 meters/second. So in two seconds, the rock drops d=vt = (10 meters/second) (2 seconds) = 20 meters . For the case of three seconds, the rock's average speed is 15 meters/second (the average of 0 meters/second and 30 meters/second). So in three seconds, it falls d=vt = (15 meters/second) (3 seconds) = 45 meters . Note that the rock is falling by successively larger amounts because the speed is continually increasing. The above computations of the distance that the rock falls can be summarized by the formula

d = 5 (meters/second2) t2

(2)

and, indeed, this equation provides the result for any time t as long as air friction can be neglected. It turns out that when air friction is negligible, all bodies fall with the same acceleration at the surface of the Earth. This acceleration, which is almost 10 meters/second2, is usually denoted by the symbol g. Since a meter is a little more than three feet, g also equals 32 feet/second2. If a penny is tossed off the cliff, it too would fall 5 meters, 20 meters and 45 meters after respectively one, two and three seconds. The formula in Equation (2) can be written as d = gt2/2 since g = 10 meters/second2. In general when an object begins at rest and undergoes constant acceleration of a, it travels a distance d of d = at2/2 in time t. Example (2): Car Manufacturing Requirements Car producers, particularly those of sports cars, often boast of how well their vehicles can achieve high speed in short times. For example, the 1999 Ferrari 360 Modena can go "from 0 to 60 in four seconds." Note that the last part of this sentence means that the car can achieve a speed of 60 miles per hour starting from rest. This is a statement about an acceleration: how fast the car can change its speed. The Ferrari 360 Modena weighs 1300 kilograms (and costs about $150,000!). How much force must the V8 engines of the 360 Modena supply? Answer: Use Newton's second law F = ma. Acceleration is the change in speed per unit time. The Ferrari changes its speed by 60 miles per hour in four seconds so that its acceleration is (60 miles/hour)/(4 seconds) = 15 miles/hour/second. In each second, it can increase its speed by 15 miles per hour. Now use Newton's second law F = ma with m = 1300 kilograms to obtain F = ma = (15 miles/hour/second) (1300 kilograms) = 19500 kilograms miles/hour/second Further Discussion: The units are mixed in the above calculation. To convert to Newtons, one needs to convert hours to seconds and miles to meters. One mile is about 1610 meters and one hour is 3600 seconds. So F = 19500 kilograms miles/hour/second = 19500 kilograms (1610 meters)/(3600 seconds)/second = 8700 Newtons This force is more than 40 times the force that the rock in example (1) feels due to the gravity of Earth.