When you're using the force, mass, and acceleration formula in the imperial system (i.e. A Note About "Slugs" When Using the Imperial System for Force, Mass, and Acceleration you can exert a smaller force) to get up to jogging speed quickly (i.e. its mass is low) then you won't have to push as hard (i.e. ![]() exert a large force) to get to jogging speed quickly (i.e. its mass is large), then you will have to push harder (i.e. The time it takes you to get to a certain speed (let's say jogging speed) is your acceleration. You already intuitively understand the factors that are at play when assessing how hard you'll have to push to get the car up to a certain speed, but you may not realize that those factors are actually just the real life manifestation of the "F = m a" formula. Imagine you have to push a car that has broken down. To visualize the force, mass, and acceleration formula in action you just need to imagine yourself pushing something. Understanding the Force, Mass, and Acceleration Formula Three seconds after, you will be travelling at a speed of 40 feet per second. Two seconds after we start accelerating you, you will be travelling at a speed of 30 feet per second. That means that one second after we start accelerating you, you will be travelling at a speed of 20 feet per second. Now, when we accelerate you at 10 feet per second squared we are increasing your speed by 10 feet per second for every second that goes by. So, you were already travelling at a constant 10 feet per second (your speed). This means that we are increasing your speed by 10 feet per second, each second. Now, suppose that we accelerate you (meaning we speed you up) at a rate of 10 "feet per second squared" (or, in other words, 10 "feet per second, per second"). It means that you travel 10 feet every second. Another way of saying it would be "feet per second, per second." Let's say that you are moving at a speed of 10 feet per second, that's your speed. "Feet per second squared" seems like a tough unit of measurement to wrap your head around, but it's actually not that bad. It's typically measured in "meters per second squared" (metric system) or "feet per second squared" (imperial system). However, your mass on the moon would be the same as it is on earth because the amount of matter that you are made up of has not changed.Īcceleration is just a change in speed. To illustrate, you might weigh a certain amount on earth, but if you went to the moon you would weigh less because the moon exerts a different gravitational pull than earth does. Mass is not the same thing as weight (which is a force). It's typically measured in kilograms (metric system) or pounds mass (imperial system). Mass is the amount of matter in an object. You can feel your weight in your feet when you are standing because the ground is pushing back on your feet with the same amount of force (i.e. Your weight is the force created by gravity that pulls you toward the earth. Gravity is pulling you down toward the ground. The rocket is pushing exhaust gases out of the engine nozzle, and those exhaust gases are pushing back on the rocket as they leave the nozzle, exerting a force that pushes the rocket up into the sky. When you do that your hand is exerting a force on the cup (and the cup is actually also exerting the exact opposite force on your hand). ![]() Imagine pushing a cup across a tabletop with your hand. There are unlimited examples of forces acting on objects that I could provide, but here are just a few: It's typically measured in Newtons (metric system) or pounds force (imperial system). You can imagine a "force" as any kind of push or pull acting on an object. Physics is generally much easier to understand if you can visualize what's going on, so I'll try my best here to explain (in a way that helps you to picture it) the general concepts behind the force, mass, and acceleration formula. Understanding Force, Mass, and Acceleration There are countless unit types that can be used to measure force, mass, and acceleration, but the most common ones (and those used by this calculator) are shown below:Īcceleration → m/s 2 (meters per second squared)Īcceleration → ft/s 2 (feet per second squared) Or, if you want to know the acceleration of an object given its mass and the force acting upon it, use this variation of the formula:Ī = F / m Force, Mass, and Acceleration Units Want to calculate the mass of an object, given the acceleration of the object and the force acting upon it? No problem, use this variation of the formula: This formula allows you to calculate the force acting upon an object if you know the mass of the object and its rate of acceleration. This force, mass, and acceleration calculator is based on one of the most fundamental formulas in physics, namely:
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