Acceleration

• Acceleration


  The rate of change of velocity
• Acceleration


  • Acceleration is not the same as velocity or speed
  • Acceleration is the change in velocity in a certain amount of time
• Calculating average acceleration


  Acceleration (m/s²) = Change in velocity (m/s) / Time (s)
• Deceleration


  Negative acceleration (if something slows down, the change in velocity is negative)
• Estimating acceleration/deceleration


  1. Give a sensible speed for the object

  2. Estimate how long it would take the object to stop

  3. Put these numbers into the acceleration equation

  4. The deceleration is the absolute value of the result
• Typical speed of a car is 25 m/s
• Acceleration due to gravity (g) is uniform for objects in free fall, roughly 9.8 m/s² near the Earth's surface
• Uniform acceleration equation


  v² - u² = 2as