DEFINING NEWTON’S SECOND LAW
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Defining Newton’s Second Law
Name
School of Education, Liberty University
Experiment/Investigation Plan
Problem/Question: How does mass and acceleration affect force?
DEFINING NEWTON’S SECOND LAW
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Literature Review: Define Newtons Law’s Laws of motion and the law of force. Isaac Newton created
three laws of motion based on his observations about the world around him (Linde, 2020). His three
laws of motion deals with the relationships among force (energy needed to move an object measured
in Newtons), mass (amount of matter in a specified space), time, acceleration (how quickly an object
speeds up, slows down, or changes direction), and velocity (speed and direction) (DiLisi, 2019).
Newton’s first law of motion, also known as the Law of inertia, states “an object at rest remains at
rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at constant speed and in a straight line unless acted
on by an unbalanced force (Hall, 2024).” Newton’s second law of motion, which states “the
acceleration of an object depends on the mass of the object and the amount of force applied.
Understanding both laws, we can formulate an equation to determine that the force is equal to the
mass multiplied by the final velocity minus the initial velocity divided by the final time minus the
starting time. F=m*(V1-V0) / t. This will be investigated so students can understand the relationship
between force, mass, and acceleration of an object.
Hypothesis: If we change the mass to be larger, then the plastic playmate car will accelerate faster
thus making the force higher.
Variables: Independent variable is mass of the truck by adding washers, and the dependent variable is
the amount of time to get from one end of the plank to the other end.
Controls: The plastic playmate truck, and the height and length of the ramp.
Materials:
(1) 3-foot ceder plank, sanded to reduce friction
(4) Student textbook
(1) plastic playmate truck
(6) Washer
(1) Stopwatch
(6) sticky notes
(1) video camera (phone camera)
(1) 1 paper to record time and intervals
Plan/Procedure:
The first step will be to build the ramp. One end of the cedar plank should be placed atop a stack of
four textbooks, and the other end on the ground.
Secondly take some post it notes and spread them 6 inches apart from the top of the plank to the
end of the plank. Ensure there is a timer available and a camera to capture the any changes through
the experiment.
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Start off with the playmate truck, without any washers, at the top of the ramp and let go of it. Ensure
to record the time from the beginning of the ramp to when it reaches the bottom of the ramp.
This will be repeated 3 times to obtain an average calculation.
The second trial we will add 2 washers to the back of the truck, and like earlier, place the truck on the
top and record the time once it reaches the end of the ramp.
This will then be performed three more times to obtain an average time.
Repeat these steps until all six washers have been used in 2 washer increments.
Record the amount of time taken for each trial. To find the average take the four times for each
number of washers, add them up and divide by four.
Reference:
DiLisi, G. A.(2019). Classical mechanics. Volume 3, Newton’s laws and uniform circular motion.
Morgan & Claypool Publishers. https://doi.org/10.1088/2053-
2571/ab1894
Hall, N. (Ed.). (2024, June 27). Newton’s laws of Motion. NASA.
https://www1.grc.nasa.gov/beginners-guide-to-aeronautics/newtonslaws-of-motion/
DEFINING NEWTON’S SECOND LAW
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Linde, B. M. (2020). Makerspace Projects for Understanding Newton’s Laws of Motion. (1st ed.).
Rosen Publishing Group. https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/liberty/reader.action?
docID=6237054&c=RVBVQg&ppg=1
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