Source: Nicholas Timmons, Asantha Cooray, PhD, Department of Physics & Astronomy, School of Physical Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA
The goal of this experiment is to understand the components of force and their relation to motion through the use of Newton's second law by measuring the acceleration of a glider being acted upon by a force.
Nearly every aspect of motion in everyday life can be described using Isaac Newton's three laws of motion. They describe how objects in motion will tend to stay in motion (the first law), objects will accelerate when acted upon by a net force (the second law), and every force exerted by an object will have an equal and opposite force exerted back onto that object (the third law). Almost all of high school and undergraduate mechanics is based on these simple concepts.
Newton's second law is fundamentally linked to the motion people experience every day. Without any force, an object will not accelerate and will remain at rest or will continue to move at a constant rate. Therefore, if someone wants to move something, such as when hitting a baseball a certain distance, sufficient force must be applied. The force can be calculated with an equation as simple as
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