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Acceleration
A fal l i ng bal l , i n the absence of ai r resi stance,
accel erates, i .e. i t fal l s faster and faster.
Common symbol(s): a
SI unit: m / s
2
Classical mechanics
History of classical mechanics
Timeline of classical mechanics
Space Time Mass Inertia Velocity Speed
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Accelerate" redirects here. For other uses, see Accelerate (disambiguation).
In physics, acceleration is the rate at which the velocity
of a body changes with time.
[1]
In general, velocity and
acceleration are vector quantities, with magnitude and
direction
[2][3]
, though in many cases only magnitude is
considered (sometimes with negative values for
deceleration). Acceleration is accompanied by a force, as
described by Newton's Second Law; the force, as a
vector, is the product of the mass of the object being
accelerated and the acceleration (vector). The SI unit of
acceleration is the meter per second squared (m/s
2
).
For example, an object such as a car that starts from
standstill, then travels in a straight line at increasing
speed, is accelerating in the direction of travel. If the car
changes direction at constant speedometer reading, there is
strictly speaking an acceleration although it is often not so
described; passengers in the car will experience a force
pushing them back into their seats in linear acceleration, and a
sideways force on changing direction. If the speed of the car
decreases, it is usual and meaningful to speak of
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Space Time Mass Inertia Velocity Speed
Acceleration Force Momentum Impulse
Torque / Moment / Couple Angular momentum
Moment of inertia Ref erence f rame Energy
Kinetic energy Potential energy
Mechanical work Mechanical power
Virtual work D'Alembert's principle
V T E
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.
deceleration; mathematically it is acceleration in the opposite
direction to that of motion.
Contents [hide]
1 Definition and properties
2 Tangential and centripetal acceleration
3 Special cases
3.1 Uniform acceleration
3.2 Circular motion
4 Relation to relativity
4.1 Special relativity
4.2 General relativity
5 See also
6 References
7 External links
Definition and properties
Mathematically, instantaneous accelerationacceleration
over an infinitesimal interval of timeis the change in
velocity divided by the duration of the interval :
i.e. the derivative of the velocity vector as a
function of time.
(Here and elsewhere, if motion is in a straight line, vector
quantities can be substituted by scalars in the equations.)
Mean acceleration over a period if time is the change in
velocity divided by the duration of the period
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Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity.
At any point on a trajectory, the magnitude of the
acceleration is given by the rate of change of
velocity in both magnitude and direction at that
point. The true acceleration at time t is f ound in the
limit as time interval t 0.
Acceleration has the dimensions of velocity (L/T) divided by
time, i.e., L T
2
. The SI unit of acceleration is the meter
per second squared (m/s
2
); this can be called more
meaningfully "meter per second per second", as the velocity in meters per second changes by the
acceleration value, every second.
An object moving in a circular motionsuch as a satellite orbiting the earthis accelerating due to the
change of direction of motion, although the magnitude (speed) may be constant. When an object is
executing such a motion where it changes direction, but not speed, it is said to be undergoing centripetal
(directed towards the center) acceleration. Oppositely, a change in the speed of an object, but not its
direction of motion, is a tangential acceleration.
Proper acceleration, the acceleration of a body relative to a free-fall condition, is measured by an instrument
called an accelerometer.
In classical mechanics, for a body with constant mass, the (vector) acceleration of the body is proportional
to the net force vector 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. As
speeds approach that of light in a vacuum, relativistic effects become increasingly large and acceleration
becomes less.
Tangential and centripetal acceleration
See also: Local coordinates
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An oscillating
pendulum, with velocity
and acceleration marked.
It experiences both
tangential and centripetal
acceleration.
Components of acceleration f or a planar curved
motion. The tangential component a
t
is due to the
change in speed of traversal, and points along the
curve in the direction of the velocity vector. The
centripetal component a
c
is due to the change in
direction of the velocity vector and is normal to the
trajectory, pointing toward the center of curvature
of the path.
See also: Local coordinates
The velocity of a particle moving
on a curved path as a function of
time can be written as:
with v(t) equal to the speed of travel along the path, and
a unit vector tangent to the path pointing in the direction of
motion at the chosen moment in time. Taking into account both the changing speed v(t) and the changing
direction of u
t
, the acceleration of a particle moving on a curved path on a planar surface can be written
using the chain rule of differentiation
[4]
and the derivative of the product of two functions of time as:

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where u
n
is the unit (inward) normal vector to the particle's trajectory, and R is its instantaneous radius of
curvature based upon the osculating circle at time t. These components are called the tangential
acceleration and the radial acceleration or centripetal acceleration (see also circular motion and centripetal
force).
Extension of this approach to three-dimensional space curves that cannot be contained on a planar surface
leads to the FrenetSerret formulas.
[5][6]
Special cases
Uniform acceleration
Uniform or constant acceleration is a type of motion in which the velocity of an object changes by an equal
amount in every equal time period.
A frequently cited example of uniform acceleration is that of an object in free fall in a uniform gravitational
field. The acceleration of a falling body in the absence of resistances to motion is dependent only on the
gravitational field strength g (also called acceleration due to gravity). By Newton's Second Law the force, F,
acting on a body is given by:
Due to the simple algebraic properties of constant acceleration in the one-dimensional case (that is, the
case of acceleration aligned with the initial velocity), there are simple formulas that relate the following
quantities: displacement, initial velocity u, final velocity v, acceleration a, and time t:
[7]
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[edit]
where
= displacement
= initial velocity
= final velocity
= uniform acceleration
= time.
In the case of uniform acceleration of an object that is initially moving in a direction not aligned with the
acceleration, the motion can be resolved into two orthogonal parts, one of constant velocity and the other
according to the above equations. As Galileo showed, the net result is parabolic motion, as in the trajectory
of a cannonball, neglecting air resistance.
[8]
Circular motion
Uniform circular motion is an example of a body experiencing acceleration resulting in velocity of a constant
magnitude but change of direction. In this case, because the direction of the object's motion is constantly
changing, being tangential to the circle, the object's velocity also changes, but its speed does not. This
acceleration is directed toward the centre of the circle and takes the value:
where v is the object's speed. Equivalently, the radial acceleration may be calculated from the object's
angular velocity , whence:
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The acceleration, hence also the force acting on a body in uniform circular motion, is directed toward the
center of the circle; that is, it is centripetal the so called 'centrifugal force' appearing to act outward on a
body is really a pseudo force experienced in the frame of reference of the body in circular motion, due to the
body's linear momentum at a tangent to the circle.
Relation to relativity
Special relativity
Main article: Special relativity
The special theory of relativity describes the behaviour of objects travelling relative to other objects at
speeds approaching that of light in a vacuum. Newtonian mechanics is exactly revealed to be an
approximation to reality, valid to great accuracy at lower speeds. Acceleration no longer follows classical
equations.
As speeds approach that of light, the acceleration produced by a given force decreases, becoming
infinitesimally small as light speed is approached; an object with mass can approach this speed
asymptotically, but never reach it.
General relativity
Main article: General relativity
Unless the state of motion of an object is known, it is totally impossible to distinguish whether an observed
force is due to gravity or to accelerationgravity and inertial acceleration have identical effects. Albert
Einstein called this the principle of equivalence, and said that only observers who feel no force at all -
including the force of gravity - are justified in concluding that they are not accelerating.
[9]
See also
Angular acceleration
Gravitational acceleration
Kinematics
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Wikimedia Commons has media
related to: Acceleration
Kinematics
Equations of motion
Proper acceleration
0 to 60 mph (0 to 100 km/h)
Shock (mechanics)
Shock and vibration data logger measuring 3-axis acceleration
Specific force
References
1. ^ Crew, Henry (2008). The Principles of Mechanics. BiblioBazaar, LLC. pp. 43. ISBN 0-559-36871-2.
2. ^ Bondi, Hermann (1980). Relativity and Common Sense. Courier Dover Publications. pp. 3. ISBN 0-486-
24021-5.
3. ^ Lehrman, Robert L. (1998). Physics the Easy Way. Barron's Educational Series. pp. 27. ISBN 0-7641-
0236-2.
4. ^ http://mathworld.wolfram.com/ChainRule.html
5. ^ Larry C. Andrews & Ronald L. Phillips (2003). Mathematical Techniques for Engineers and Scientists .
SPIE Press. p. 164. ISBN 0-8194-4506-1.
6. ^ Ch V Ramana Murthy & NC Srinivas (2001). Applied Mathematics . New Delhi: S. Chand & Co.. p. 337.
ISBN 81-219-2082-5.
7. ^ Keith Johnson (2001). Physics for you: revised national curriculum edition for GCSE (4th ed.). Nelson
Thornes. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-7487-6236-1.
8. ^ David C. Cassidy, Gerald James Holton, and F. James Rutherford (2002). Understanding physics .
Birkhuser. p. 146. ISBN 978-0-387-98756-9.
9. ^ Brian Greene, The Fabric of the Cosmos, page 67. Vintage ISBN 0-375-72720-5
External links
Acceleration Calculator Simple acceleration unit converter
Measurespeed.com - Acceleration Calculator Based on
starting & ending speed and time elapsed.
Kinematics
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Categories: Motion Physical quantities Dynamics Kinematics Acceleration Concepts in physics
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