Intro to Physics Assignment 2

1. a. The units of mass and the units of weight for the metric system are grams or kilograms for mass and Newtons for weight.

b. The units of mass and the units of weight for the English system are slug for mass and pounds for weight.

1 kg ~ 9.8 Newtons (force! W=mg... ) and 1 kg ~ 2.2 pounds

2. Mass is a measure of how much material is in an object, but weight is a measure of the gravitational force exerted on that material in a gravitational field; thus, mass and weight are proportional to each other, with the acceleration due to gravity as the proportionality constant. It follows that mass is constant for an object, but weight depends on the location of the object (Weber, nd). Several measures of masses and weights of different objects can be used to compare them and establish an eventual relationship between them. The coefficient of proportionality between weight and mass is denoted by g and called gravitational field strength. The gravitational field strength on Earth is 9.81 N/kg. The following is the relationship between weight and mass: W = m x g

The mass of an object is the same, whether on earth or the moon. However, the weight would change. For example, away from Earth’s surface, where gravity is less, a 1-kilogram brick would wieight less. On the Moon’s surface, the gravitational force on objects is one-sixth as strong as on Earth. So, a 1 kilogram brick weighs about 1.6 newtons on the moon, but weigh about 10 newtons on Earth’s surface (Hewitt, 2014).

3. Newton's second law of motion :

Acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting on it, the direction of the net force acting on it, and is inversely proportional to mass increase and decrease. So, if the net force on an object increases, than acceleration increases by the same factor. However, if the mass increases, the acceleration decreases by the same factor.

Example: If a sled dog with 100 newtons of force pulls a 50 kg boulder...