Testing Newton's second law in an accelerating system

Abstract

Newton’s second law claims that force is the product of mass and acceleration (F = ma). It could be of great use when calculating the acceleration, and thus velocity and position, of a system based on the external forces acting on it; therefore we tested its validity. Using a cart and pulley system, we examined the relationships between force, mass, and acceleration. The observed system accelerations for different values of force and mass were consistent with Newton’s second law.