Newton's 2nd Law confusion: mass times acceleration is not a force?

[Mister T]

Grateful if someone could explain why, if Newton's 2nd law says F=ma, I've read warnings and cautions in several physics books that mass times acceleration is not a force.

Because it's the sum of all the forces.

Law II tells us that the mass of a particle, times its acceleration, equals the sum of all the forces acting on that particle.

 

[weirdoguy]

mostly just arrogant gibberish

Prove it. Because I see none.

 

[L Drago]

In the Newtonian model it obtains a higher speed due to the force of gravity.

This thread is not a dispute about whether $\sum F = ma$. It is (if anything) about drawing a distinction between the numeric quanty $ma$ and the physical concept of a force.

It seems to me that you have imagined some sort of straw man here. Maybe you think that someone is claiming that $\sum F \ne ma$. Or that gravity is not a force. It is hard to be sure since you have not quoted the point that you wish to rail against. Nor have you made a reasoned argument for an opposing point.

Yeah. You are right. If someone wants us to prove a point. He should mention it.

 

[A.T.]

... gravity ... no force acted ...

Weird

 

[L Drago]

Most of the responses here are lacking explanations - mostly just arrogant gibberish. When a rocket (unpowered) slingshots off a planet by the pull of it's gravity, it leaves the vicinity of the planet with greater speed that when it approached. How did the rocket obtain higher speed if no force acted upon it?

This is weird. You first need to describe what do you think is right. Just as my perspective was chagen as now I understand that mass times acceleration is not the same as force, it is just an equivalence which is described by Newton's second law. A big thanks to @PeroK for changing my perspective. Now I realise what was describe in the book which cautioned against stating the product of mass and acceleration the same as force.