What is F equals ma?

Answer 1

F=ma is a special Algebraic Expression - not quite a Mathematical Formula.

It reads: Force is equal to Mass times Acceleration.

Units: mass is in grams; acceleration is in meters per second squared. This means that Force - is grams times m/sec2 - or Newtons.
F=ma refers to Fnet, or the sum of all the forces of a system. m is the mass of the object acted on, and a is the acceleration of the object. For example, if a 10kg object is accelerating at 5 m/s squared, then Fnet=(10)(50)

=500N

Likewise, if trying to find the mass or acceleration, you can manipulate the formula to acquire such information.

Answer 2

We study in our high schools about Newton second law which states that F=ma i.e. force equals to the product of mass and acceleration. But this mathematical definition is not enough to explain the reasons why F=ma. Why Force is not equal to product of mass and acceleration square (F=ma2) or why not F=m3 a. These are some really serious questions that student should ask and try to find the answers of these questions.

Here I will be explaining the reason why F=ma and I will also explain how newton thought and after performing experiments came up with the formula F=ma.

Consider a mass M placed in ideal system i.e. frictionless .

If a force F is applied at certain instant of time only say t=0 .And for all other values of "t" F=0. Then the body will start moving with the constant velocity. Example of such an event is shot made by snooker player. If the table is frictionless then the ball will continue to move with constant velocity.

But what will happen if we apply same constant force on a body of mass M continuously? the answer is that , the mass M will start to accelerate i.e. its velocity will start to increase.(Do not confuse this continuous force with an event when a labor is continuously applying force on a cart but cart still moves with constant velocity, here the labor continuous force is used to overcome the frictional force only).

Example is rocket propulsion

So we get a relationship which says that Force is directly proportional to acceleration "F α a" . If we plot both force and acceleration we get a straight line. If mass of body varies then the slope of our plot which is straight line will also varies. So in order to maintain the equality we introduce a constant of proportionality "m" to satisfy the equality F=ma.

Answer 3

Sir Isaac newton came up with F = ma. It's the second law of motion.

Answer 4

Newton's force equation happens to be measured in Newtons. N.

a Newton is gram meters per second squared (gm/s^2)

Answer 5

Yes, always has and always will.

Answer 6

Force equals mass times acceleration.