Which equation relates force, mass, and acceleration?

Which equation relates force, mass, and acceleration?

• A. F = m / a
• B. F = m a
• C. F = a / m
• D. F = m + a

Answer: (B)

Force, mass, and acceleration are linked by Newton's second law: F = m a. This means the push or pull on an object (force) determines how its motion changes, and how quickly that change happens depends on the object's mass. The acceleration is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass: with a given force, a lighter object speeds up more than a heavier one; with a given mass, increasing the force increases the acceleration in proportion. If you tried to express force as mass divided by acceleration or as a sum of mass and acceleration, you’d mix quantities in ways that don’t reflect how motion responds to pushes and would not match the correct units. So the proper relation is F = m a, with units of newtons (1 N = 1 kg·m/s^2).

Force, mass, and acceleration are linked by Newton's second law: F = m a. This means the push or pull on an object (force) determines how its motion changes, and how quickly that change happens depends on the object's mass. The acceleration is directly proportional to the force and inversely proportional to the mass: with a given force, a lighter object speeds up more than a heavier one; with a given mass, increasing the force increases the acceleration in proportion. If you tried to express force as mass divided by acceleration or as a sum of mass and acceleration, you’d mix quantities in ways that don’t reflect how motion responds to pushes and would not match the correct units. So the proper relation is F = m a, with units of newtons (1 N = 1 kg·m/s^2).