Free Body Diagrams

Applying Newton's Second Law to a real situation usually requires unambiguous identification of the "body" in question, so that the forces acting on it can be clearly marked and not confused with the reaction forces on other bodies.

For example, consider the following crude drawing of you standing still on the Earth: the symbol that looks like a belt buckle is meant to indicate your center of gravity, where your weight W = m g can be considered to act.

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