According to Newton’s second law, how does an object’s acceleration depend on the net force acting on it (for constant mass $m$)?

• A. Acceleration is directly proportional to net force: $a=\frac{F_{\mathrm{net}}}{m}$.
• B. Acceleration is independent of net force and depends only on mass: $a=m$.
• C. Net force is proportional to the square of acceleration: $F_{\mathrm{net}}=m{a}^2$.
• D. Acceleration is inversely proportional to net force: $a=\frac{m}{F_{\mathrm{net}}}$.

Answer: (A)

Verified step by step guidance

1. Recall Newton's second law of motion, which states that the net force acting on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration. This can be written as \(\mathbf{F}_{net} = m \mathbf{a}\).
2. Since the mass \(m\) is constant, we can rearrange the equation to solve for acceleration \(a\): \(a = \frac{F_{net}}{m}\).
3. This equation shows that acceleration is directly proportional to the net force acting on the object when mass is constant.
4. Understand that acceleration depends on the magnitude and direction of the net force, and increasing the net force will increase the acceleration proportionally.
5. Note that acceleration is inversely proportional to mass, meaning that for the same net force, a larger mass results in smaller acceleration.