Acceleration

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Lighterstill.jpg

Accelerationpic.jpg

Etymology

Latin acceleratus, past participle of accelerare, from ad- + celer swift

Definitions

  • 1 : to bring about at an earlier time <accelerate their departure>
  • 2 : to cause to move faster <accelerated his steps>; also : to cause to undergo acceleration
  • 3 a : to hasten the progress or development of <accelerate our efforts>
b : increase <accelerate food production>
  • 4 a : to enable (a student) to complete a course in less than usual time
b : to speed up (as a course of study)
For lessons on the topic of Acceleration, follow this link.

Description

In physics, and more specifically kinematics, acceleration is the change in velocity over time. Because velocity is a vector, it can change in two ways: a change in magnitude and/or a change in direction. In one dimension, i.e. a line, acceleration is the rate at which something speeds up. However, as a vector quantity, acceleration is also the rate at which direction changes. Acceleration has the dimensions L T −2. In SI units, acceleration is measured in meters per second squared (m/s2).

In common speech, the term acceleration commonly is used for an increase in speed (the magnitude of velocity); a decrease in speed is called deceleration. In physics, a change in the direction of velocity also is an acceleration: for rotary motion, the change in direction of velocity results in centripetal (toward the center) acceleration; where as the rate of change of speed is a tangential acceleration. Acceleration.jpg

In classical mechanics, for a body with constant mass, the acceleration of the body is proportional to the resultant (total) force acting on it (Newton's second law) where F is the resultant force acting on the body, m is the mass of the body, and a is its acceleration.[1]