grz Physics Aids from a tutor to his student 4 NEWTONS 2ND LAW The acceleration acting on a body is directly

y proportional to the applied force and takes place in the direction of this force.

F is directly proportional to a means that if, e.g. F gets doubled, then a also gets doubled. Or if F increases to 4F then a also increases to 4a. Whenever two physical quantities are directly proportional to each other then one can represent them by an equation. e.g since F a

then one can write F = (constant)a This constant of proportion is called MASS. Hence F = ma The following is a graph of how force F and acceleration a are related to each other.