# A football is kicked from the ground and travels upward through the air before landing on the ground again. Explain how Newton's first and second laws of motion account for the changes in the football's motion from the moment it leaves the footballer's boot until it hits the ground. You may ignore the effects of air resistance.

> WJEC A-Level Physics (Wales) — 1.2 Forces and Newton's laws · Explain · 5 marks

## Mark scheme (5 marks)

1. Once the ball leaves the boot there is no longer a contact force from the boot acting on it (the only force acting is gravity/weight)
2. Newton's first law: an object remains at rest or moves at constant velocity unless acted on by a resultant force
3. Because weight/gravity acts downward there is a resultant (unbalanced) force on the ball
4. Newton's second law: a resultant force causes an acceleration in the direction of the force (F = ma)
5. The downward resultant force (weight) causes a constant downward acceleration, so the ball decelerates as it rises and accelerates downward as it falls

## Related

- [Revision notes for WJEC A-Level Physics (Wales)](https://www.gradenine.co.uk/learn)
- [How to answer "Explain" questions](https://www.gradenine.co.uk/tools/command-word-cheatsheet)
- [Practice this with AI marking (free)](https://www.gradenine.co.uk/start)

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