Question

How does Newton's second law of motion differ from first law of motion?

Answer 1

Newton's First law states that : states that an object in motion tends to stay in motion unless another force acts upon it.

Newton's second law of motion states that : the acceleration of an object is dependent upon two variables - 1) the net force acting upon the object and 2) the mass of the object.

Answer 2

Heya!

While Newton's first law of helps us to understand that an external agent or an unbalanced force is required to accelerate a body and a body cannot change its state of motion or rest along a straight line on it's own

( Examples - One's body movement to the side when a car makes a sharp turn. Tightening of seat belts in a car when it stops quickly. A ball rolling down a hill will continue to roll unless friction or another force stops it.)

The second law tells us that, when a force acts on a body, momentum of the body changes.

(Example -  If you use the same force to push a truck and push a car, the car will have more acceleration than the truck, because the car has less mass)

While the first law gives us a precise definition of intertia, the second law establishes that force is a vector quantity.

Hope it helps!