What term describes the total of all forces acting on an object?

What term describes the total of all forces acting on an object?

• A. Balanced Forces
• B. Inertia
• C. Net Force
• D. Gravity

Answer: (C)

Net force is the total of all forces acting on an object, found by adding every force as a vector and accounting for direction. This net force determines how the object’s motion changes: if it’s zero, the object doesn’t accelerate and keeps moving at a constant velocity or stays at rest; if it’s not zero, the object accelerates in the direction of the net force, with acceleration proportional to the net force divided by the object's mass (F_net = m a). Gravity is just one of the forces that can be part of that total, and it may be balanced by other forces (like the normal force), resulting in a zero net force. Inertia is the property of matter that resists changes in motion, not the sum of forces, and balanced forces describe a situation where forces cancel to produce zero net force, not the total itself.

Net force is the total of all forces acting on an object, found by adding every force as a vector and accounting for direction. This net force determines how the object’s motion changes: if it’s zero, the object doesn’t accelerate and keeps moving at a constant velocity or stays at rest; if it’s not zero, the object accelerates in the direction of the net force, with acceleration proportional to the net force divided by the object's mass (F_net = m a). Gravity is just one of the forces that can be part of that total, and it may be balanced by other forces (like the normal force), resulting in a zero net force. Inertia is the property of matter that resists changes in motion, not the sum of forces, and balanced forces describe a situation where forces cancel to produce zero net force, not the total itself.