According to Newton’s second law of motion, the relationship between an object's mass (m), its acceleration (a), and the applied force (F) is F = ma. How does this law apply to the sport of bowling? When the pins are correctly aligned, their mass and acceleration will keep the ball from going into the gutter.

When the bowling ball is rolling down the lane, the mass of the ball on the floor makes the pins become unstable, allowing the acceleration of the ball to knock down the pins.

When the bowling ball is rolled with a force, this accelerates the ball. That acceleration, when combined with the mass of the ball, produces a force that knocks down the pins

When the bowling ball hits the pins, the ball has a mass, so it will exert acceleration on the pins and knock them down.