Unit 2 Reflection

In this unit, we learned many import concepts for physics. We learned all about Newton's Second Law and its behavior towards objects that may have an unbalanced force on them in the air. Newton's second law states that the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - the net force acting upon the object and the mass of the object. The acceleration of an object depends directly upon the net force acting upon the object, and inversely upon the mass of the object. So as force acting on an increase, the acceleration of that object increases. As the mass of the object increases, the acceleration of that object decreases.



In other words acceleration is directly proportionate to force and inversely proportionate to mass. The equation below uses Fnet which can also be determined by mass times acceleration.

A = Fnet/m

We also learned about the concept of free fall with both inertia and acceleration. An object that is accelerating towards the earth without air resistance, (falling in a perfect vacuum) is in free fall. Free fall is any motion of a body where its weight is the only force acting upon it. When an object acceleration terminates, we say that the object has reached its terminal speed. Acceleration decreases because net force decreases/ Net force is equal to the weight minus air resistance, and air increases with the speed that an object is falling at.




This animation demonstrates that when an two objects are in free fall they hit the ground at the same time disregarding the mass difference of each object. It also demonstrates that when two objects are dropped and are encountered with air resistance they most likely will not hit the ground at the same time. This for many reasons. One reason being that each object may have a different surface area that causes more or less air resistance. Another reason is that they will have different mass and have a stronger force of gravity pulling them towards the Earth.

I think this blog reflection prepared me very well for the test. It helped me understand a few concepts that i still had questions about.