What is Acceleration
Acceleration is like the seasoning in the recipe of motion, bringing zest and excitement to the way things change their speed. It provides us with the essential information on how an object is either speeding up or slowing down.
Lets, Imagine a car sitting at a red traffic light, and suddenly, the light turns green. As the driver steps on the gas pedal, the car accelerates, going from 0 to 60 miles per hour. This acceleration is like the kick of spice that propels the car forward, transforming it from a standstill to cruising speed.
Now, here’s the twist – acceleration isn’t just about speeding up. It’s equally involved when something is slowing down.
If the same car is approaching a red light and the driver applies the brakes, gradually coming to a stop. In this scenario, the car is decelerating, that is negative acceleration. It’s like the gentle easing off of the spice, gradually slowing down the motion. So, it’s making the motion experience dynamic, thrilling, and full of surprises.
Acceleration is change in velocity per unit time. With an SI unit of m/s2
How an object’s velocity changes over time can be calculated by:
Acceleration (a) = Change in velocity (v)Time (t)
Example 1: Imagine you have a toy rocket 🚀 that starts from rest and zooms into the sky. In the first 2 seconds, it covers a distance of 20 metres. To find the acceleration, you can use the formula:
Acceleration = Change in Velocity / Time
Since the rocket starts from rest, the change in velocity is the final velocity. Let’s say the final velocity after 2 seconds is 10 m/s:
Acceleration = (10 m/s − 0 m/s) / 2 s
= 5 m/s²
The rocket is accelerating at 5 metres per second squared!
Example 2: Now, let’s imagine a thrilling roller coaster ride 🎢. The coaster starts at 5 m/s and speeds up to 20 m/s in 4 seconds. To find the acceleration, we use the same formula:
Acceleration = Change in Velocity / Time
Acceleration = (20 m/s − 5 m/s) / 4 s
= 3.75 m/s²
The roller coaster is accelerating at 3.75 metres per second squared!
