Need help finding the relationship between force and acceleration

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around the relationship between force and acceleration, particularly in the context of a force applied to an object resulting in a specific acceleration pattern. Participants are exploring how to represent this relationship graphically, especially in terms of force-time and acceleration-time graphs.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants are attempting to understand how the oscillating acceleration graph relates to the force graph, questioning whether the force graph is the derivative of the acceleration graph. There is also discussion about the implications of constant velocity on acceleration and force.

Discussion Status

The discussion is ongoing, with participants offering various insights and interpretations regarding the relationship between force and acceleration. Some guidance has been provided regarding the shapes of the graphs, but there is no explicit consensus on the exact relationship or graphical representation.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working under the assumption that friction is negligible and are considering the implications of constant velocity on the acceleration and force graphs. There is also mention of Newton's laws, which may influence the discussion but are not fully explored.

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Homework Statement



A force is applied that makes an object move with the acceleration shown below. Assuming that friction is negligible, sketch a force-time graph of the force on the object on the axes below.

Since i don't have a scanner. Let me describe the graph of the acceleration. It oscillates from positive 1 to negative 1.5, then to positive two, then negative 1.5 then to positive 1 and evens out. So there are three humps within 5 seconds.

i don't know the relationship between the acceleration graph and force graph so i am stuck here. I know that they have to be in the same direction because 'a force [was] applied that made the object move'. But how will the graph of the force vs time look. Will it just be the derivative of the acceleration graph?
 
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I may be wrong here, but I think Newton came up with a famous equation that relates force to acceleration.
 
well i was looking more for "the acceleration is the slope of the velocity graph" but in regards to force and acceleration.

another example would be the velocity is the slope of the position graph.

so, if i may add another question: what is the force graph in relation to the acceleration graph. if the velocity graph and acclertaion graph are both constant, that is that they are both horizontal lines; what will the force graph look like?
 
if the velocity is constant, than acc. and force are zero.

Another thing - the graph of force and acceleration (with respect to a common variable, say time) basically have the SAME shape (f=ma, m being a scalar).
Absolute values will change according to the value of mass in the equation above.
 

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