— What exactly does kilograms times metres per second squared mean?

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I understand that F=ma, mass is in kilograms and acceleration is metres per second squared so Newtons are just kilograms metres per second squared, but what does that mean? I can’t seem to comprehend it/really understand it intuitively. Why are we adding kilograms, metres per second squared times (or vice-versa)? I understand stuff with division, like density, because it makes sense, like with density, you’re dividing the mass over the volume occupied to see how many kilograms you have per cubic metre of the substance in question, so kg/m^3 , but I seem to have trouble understanding the multiplied quantities, like Newtons.

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Anonymous 0 Comments

Imagine an object moving at some velocity with no other forces actin upon it. If we apply a force such that it slows down it will slow down based on a couple of factors first how heavy is it (the kg part) and it will slow down at a certain number of meters per second every second. (The meter per second per second.)

The problem you might be having it what about the force you apply when pushing on a wall, it doesn’t slow down or change its velocity so what does it mean? The answer is there is no force you push on the wall and it pushes back equally and so nothing happens. For there to be a force there has to be a change in momentum (typically this is a mass accelerating but there is more to the equation than f=ma it just cancels out for object with mass)

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