Acceleration
Summary
- Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity with time.
- As a vector it must be stated with both magnitude and direction.
- Acceleration occurs anytime an object's…
- speed increases
- speed decreases
- direction of motion changes
- Average acceleration…
- is measured over a non-zero time interval
- is represented by the symbol aave or a (overline)
- Instantaneous acceleration…
- is the limit of average acceleration as the time interval approaches zero
- is the first derivative of velocity with respect to time
- is the second derivative of displacement with respect to time
- is represented by the symbol a (boldface)
- The various forms of acceleration are defined by the following equations…
average
accelerationa = ∆v ∆t instantaneous
accelerationa = lim ∆t→0 ∆v = dv = d2s ∆t dt dt2 - The SI unit of acceleration is the meter per second squared [m/s2]
- The standard acceleration due to gravity…
- is a natural unit of acceleration
- is represented by the symbol g (roman)
- is equal to 9.80665 m/s2 by definition
- is often rounded to 9.8 m/s2 or even 10 m/s2 for convenience
- is sometimes called the unit of "g force" even though it is a unit of acceleration