Newton's second law of motion states that the acceleration of an object as produced by an unbalanced force is directly proportional to the magnitude of the force, in the same direction as the force, and inversely proportional to the mass of the object.

this can be summarized mathematically as:

force = mass × acceleration

in other words, when a net force is applied to an object, the object will be accelerated in the direction of the force. the greater the force, the greater the acceleration of the object, but the heavier the object, the less it will be accelerated.

the chart below summarizes the forces applied to five different objects. which object will experience the greatest acceleration?