> the equation in Newton’s second law isn’t F = ma, but rather the more subtle statement that force is equal to the rate of change of momentum of a body

This is probably the most insightful bit and points directly to the potential of fiddling with the equation.

Drawing an analogy from electricity, F=ma is in a way the "DC version/expression" of a force, in which m and a are constant and F is a fixed quantity. However we can write an "AC version/expression" of the equation as F(t)=m(t)*a(t), in which the average of F(t)=F.

In a way we tend to just be content with dealing with averages instead of looking at the detail and seeing how it varies over time.

There's a lot of potential in looking at the variation. Especially as technology enables it through high speed cameras and instruments with higher sampling rates/resolution.