What does increasing the force applied to an object do to its acceleration?

Increasing the force applied to an object directly affects its acceleration due to Newton's second law of motion, which states that the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force acting upon it and inversely proportional to its mass. This relationship can be expressed mathematically as ( F = ma ), where ( F ) represents the force applied, ( m ) is the mass of the object, and ( a ) is the acceleration.

When the force applied to an object increases while the mass remains constant, the acceleration must increase as well in order to maintain the equality expressed in the equation. This means that a greater force leads to a greater acceleration, demonstrating that the two quantities are linked.

In contrast, if the force does not change or decreases, or if the mass of the object is increased while the force remains constant, the acceleration of the object would decrease or remain unchanged. Additionally, reversing the direction of acceleration would only occur if the force applied were to act in the opposite direction compared to the object's initial motion, which is not a direct consequence of simply increasing the force. Thus, the correct understanding is that increasing the force applied to an object results in an increase in its acceleration.