Physic Acceleration

• Acceleration


  The rate of change in velocity or how quickly something speeds up or slows down
• Acceleration


  • Measured in meters per second squared
• Delta (Δ)


  Means change
• Delta v (Δv)


  Change in velocity, can also be written as v - u where v is final velocity and u is initial velocity
• Calculating acceleration


  1. Find change in velocity (v - u)

  2. Divide by time
• Acceleration is a vector quantity, so it has direction as well as magnitude and can be negative (implying slowing down or decelerating)
• Acceleration calculated is the average acceleration over the time period, as it may have varied
• Uniform/constant acceleration


  Acceleration is the same rate the entire time
• Second acceleration equation


  • Includes distance instead of time
• If an object starts from stationary, its initial velocity (u) is zero
• Calculating height dropped


  1. Given final velocity (v), initial velocity (u = 0), and acceleration (a = 9.8 m/s^2)

  2. Rearrange equation to solve for distance (s)
• Ignoring air resistance