What is the shape of a mass vs. acceleration graph?

[liz777]

The mass is constant, and there is a varying force. So would the mass be the dependent value(y-axis) and the acceleration be the independent value(x-axis)?

I think the mass is the dependent value so when I graphed it the line went straight across(horizontal). Is this right? I'm really confused because I thought acceleration was inversely proportional to mass, so it shouldn't be a linear relationship?

 

[Mathemagician]

The mass is constant, and there is a varying force. So would the mass be the dependent value(y-axis) and the acceleration be the independent value(x-axis)?

I think the mass is the dependent value so when I graphed it the line went straight across(horizontal). Is this right? I'm really confused because I thought acceleration was inversely proportional to mass, so it shouldn't be a linear relationship?

You said yourself that the mass is constant. This means that for any point P(a,m) where a is acceleration and m is mass, you have the same y value (m) for any x value (a).

This is why you got a horizontal line when you graphed mass vs. acceleration; mass doesn't actually depend on the acceleration (in this case).

 

[luju]

so we know F=ma right?
Then, if your mass is constant, then the value of mass doesn't change. Its a number like 7 or 8 or 9. TO graph mass vs acceleration is to say mass on the y-axis and acceleration on the X axis. So I think it should be something like a straight horizontal line like you said. This seems logical because your y-value that is mass stays constant but you acceleration changes, which is your x value. If this is what your graph depicts then it seems right. Cheers

 

[devrana01]

You said yourself that the mass is constant. This means that for any point P(a,m) where a is acceleration and m is mass, you have the same y value (m) for any x value (a).

This is why you got a horizontal line when you graphed mass vs. acceleration; mass doesn't actually depend on the acceleration (in this case).

as mass is constant, the acceleration is a function of force only i.e. acc is directly proportional to force applied. depending the magnitude of force the acc will change

 

[Mathemagician]

as mass is constant, the acceleration is a function of force only i.e. acc is directly proportional to force applied. depending the magnitude of force the acc will change

The reason I said "in this case" was because in relativity, mass (or maybe more properly, momentum) is not constant with an increase in velocity.

In special relativity, the relation between mass and velocity is M=\frac{m}{\sqrt{1-\frac{v^2}{c^2}}.

Where M is the relativistic mass, and m is the rest mass. v is the velocity of the body, and c is the speed of light.

This obviously shows that M is NOT a constant.