Question

A ball of mass 0.6 kg flies through the air at low speed, so that air resistance is negligible. What is the net force acting on the ball while it is in motion?

Answer 1

To solve this problem we will apply Newton's second law. The second law says that mass by acceleration is equivalent to the Force exerted on a body. Mathematically this

$F = ma$

Here,

m = mass

a = Acceleration

The ball flies through the air under the effect of gravity only. Therefore the acceleration is due to gravity, we have that

$a = - g$

Then,

$F = -mg$

Replacing

$F = -0.6*9.8$

$F = -5.88N$

The negative sign implies that the force acting on the ball is in the downward direction that is towards the negative y direction.