How do you calculate acceleration of gravity?

1 Answer
Jun 10, 2014

Assume that air resistance is negligible. Equate the resultant force to the weight and then we get: a=g.


We can use the simplified version of Newton's Second Law, F=ma. This relates the resultant force acting on the object to its acceleration.

As air resistance is neglected the only force acting is the weight, so F=w.

w=mg, where g is the gravitational field strength 9.8 Nkg^-1.

F=mg, now use Newton's Second Law: ma=mg. The mass is the same on both sides of the equation: ⇒a=g=9.8 ms^-2