Newton's second law of motion states:

The acceleration of an object is proportional to the resultant force acting on it and inversely proportional to the object's mass

• Newton's second law of motion explains what happens when a non-zero resultant force acts on an object

• A resultant force occurs when the forces acting on an object are not balanced

• A resultant force acting on an object will cause a change in the object's motion

• This change in motion is an acceleration:

  • Speeding up

  • Slowing down

  • Changing direction

• If the resultant force on an object is not zero, the object will accelerate in the direction of the resultant force

• The bigger this resultant force, the larger the acceleration

• For a given force, the greater the object's mass, the smaller the acceleration experienced

Newton Second Law = F = MA

Where:

• F = resultant force on the object, measured in newtons (N)

• m = mass of the object, measured in kilograms (kg)

• a = acceleration of the object, measured in metres per second squared (m/s2)