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Question

What is net force???

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Solution

If two or more forces act on a body simultaneously, the the total force on the body is called the net force or the resultant force.

The net force is the vector sum of all the forces that act upon an object, i.e., it is the sum of all the forces, taking into account the fact that a force is a vector and two forces of equal magnitude and opposite direction will cancel each other out.




Definition of a Net Force

When you kick a soccer ball, the ball takes off and moves through the air. At that moment, there is a net force acting on the ball. When the ball starts to come back to the ground and eventually stops, there is a net force acting on the ball as well. Newton's Second Law says that when a net force is acting on an object, then that object must be accelerating, that is, its speed changes from second to second. When you first kick the soccer ball, it accelerates, and when the soccer ball begins to slow down to a stop, it is also accelerating.

A net force is defined as the sum of all the forces acting on an object. The equation below is the sum of N forces acting on an object.

NetForce1

There may be several forces acting on an object, and when you add up all of those forces, the result is what we call the net force acting on the object. If the net force adds up to zero, then the object is not accelerating, therefore it moves with a constant speed. If the net force adds up to a non-zero value, then the object is accelerating.

If two or more forces act on a body simultaneously, the the total force on the body is called the net force or the resultant force.

The net force is the vector sum of all the forces that act upon an object, i.e., it is the sum of all the forces, taking into account the fact that a force is a vector and two forces of equal magnitude and opposite direction will cancel each other out.


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