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Newton's Second Law
Newton’s second law states that acceleration of an object is produced by a proportional net force and inversely proportional to the mass of the object. This means that the greater force applied, the more acceleration, but the greater the mass, the less acceleration. This law comes into play the with gravity. The force that gravity puts on an object will depend on the mass of the object.
Newton's second Law

Detroit Lions wide receiver Calvin Johnson

Therefore the force of gravity on the football is 3.9N (down)

Since we know the acceleration of the football when it's cocked back and then it was thrown. We can find the force that was applied on the ball
Force Apply
since the acceleration due to gravity is always the same (9.8m/s^2), and we know the mass of the ball, we can calculate the force of gravity on the ball by multiplying the these two things together.
Therefore the force applied on the football when cocked back is 2.64N (up)

Therefore the force applied on the football when thrown is 2.64N (up)
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