Assignment #3.3 Newton’s 2nd Law Online Lab
Name: ___________________________________________________________ Period: ______
Newton’s 2nd Law Online Lab
How do mass and force affect acceleration?
Learning Targets
 I can determine how acceleration changes when force changes
 I can determine how acceleration changes when mass changes
 I can state the relationship between acceleration and force/mass.
Introduction
Use the textbook to answer the following questions
http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com Username: KUNA2015 Password: KHS2015
Combining Forces (pages 357-358)
1. The overall force acting on an object after all the forces are combined is the ___________.
2. How do balanced and unbalanced forces affect the motion of an object? ________
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Newton’s Second Law of Motion (pages 365-368)
3. According to Newton’s second law of motion, acceleration of an object depends upon the
______________ of the object and the ______________acting on it.
Match each term with its description.
Description
_____ 28. A measure of the inertia of an object
_____ 29.
Net force
Mass
_____ 30. Causes an object’s velocity to
change
Term
A. mass
B. net force
C. acceleration
31. True or False The acceleration of an object is always in the same direction as the net force acting
on the object.
32. True or False If the same force acts upon two objects with different masses, the acceleration will
be greater for the object with the greater mass.
Assignment #3.3 Newton’s 2nd Law Online Lab
You will be investigating how mass, force, and acceleration are related in this assignment. Please
follow the directions carefully!
Part 1 Procedure
Constant Mass (200 kg), Changing Force Experiment
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Go to the following website: http://phet.colorado.edu/ Search for Forces in 1 Dimension. Click on the first
simulation on the list called Forces in 1 Dimension.
Click on the green Run Now! Button below the simulation picture. Click on Keep at the bottom of the screen.
When the download completes, click on the forces-1d_en button at the bottom of the screen..
Choose Later in the window that pops up. Wait patiently for the simulation to start. Click Run.
On the right side of the screen, turn Friction off by clicking to select Off.
Click on the box to the left of Show Total Force to uncheck this option.
Do NOT change to object you are using for the remainder of this steps for this part of the assignment. The 200
kg File Cabinet should be selected.
On the left side of the screen, change the applied force to 100 N by typing 100 in the box below where it says
Applied Force.
Click on the Graph Acceleration on the left side of the screen.
Now click the Go button on the left side of the screen.
Record the acceleration in the data table below.
Once the object is pushed across the screen and out of view, click on the Reset button that appears in the top
right part of the screen.
Repeat steps 7-11 adding 100 N to the Applied Force each time.
Data Table
Applied Force (N)
Acceleration
(m/s2)
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
800
Graph using Google Sheets. Ask Mrs. Wolbach for an instruction sheet if
needed.
Part 1 Conclusions
1. Looking at your graph, does the acceleration of the cart increase or decrease as the force
increases? What kind of a relationship is this (directly or inversely proportional)?
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2. Compare the acceleration of the file cabinet when the force was 300 N with the acceleration of the
cabinet when the force was 600 N. Discuss what happened to the value of the acceleration.
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Assignment #3.3 Newton’s 2nd Law Online Lab
3. Complete the following statement: When you double the force acting on an object and keep the
mass of the cabinet constant, the acceleration is ________________________.
4. You probably already knew that increasing the applied force on an object will increase its
acceleration. Give an example of where you have seen or experienced this before.
__________________________________________________________
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Part 2 Procedure
Constant Force (150 N), Changing Mass Experiment
1) Maximize the simulation window again.
2) Change the Applied Force to 150 N. (The File Cabinet should still be your object.)
3) Record the mass of the File Cabinet in the data table below. You can find the mass by looking to the right at the
picture of the cabinet. It is listed in parentheses next to the name of it.
4) Click on the Go button.
5) Record the acceleration of the File Cabinet next to its mass in the data table.
6) Repeat this procedure selecting each of the five objects on the right hand side of the screen to test (File Cabinet,
Refrigerator, Textbook, Crate, Sleepy Dog)
Data Table
MASS (kg)
Acceleration
(m/s2)
Graph using Google Sheets
Part 2 Conclusions
1. Looking at your graph, does the acceleration of the cart increase or decrease as the mass
increases? What kind of a relationship is this (directly or inversely proportional)?
__________________________________________________________
2. Compare the acceleration of the File Cabinet (200 kg) to the acceleration of the Refrigerator (400
kg). What happened to the value of the acceleration when mass was doubled?
__________________________________________________________
3. Complete the following statement: When you double the mass of an object and keep the force
acting on it constant, the acceleration will _____________________________.
4. You probably already knew that increasing the mass of an object will decrease its acceleration.
Give an example of where you have seen or experienced this before.
__________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________
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Assignment #3.3 Newton’s 2nd Law Online Lab
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5. How does increasing force affect acceleration? How does increasing mass affect acceleration?
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6. What would happen to acceleration if you doubled the force acting on an object AND doubled the
mass of the object?
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Parts 1 and 2 Conclusion
1) Circle one: Acceleration is (directly / inversely) proportional to Applied Force.
2) Circle one: Acceleration is (directly / inversely) proportional to Mass.
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