What is Acceleration in Physics and How to Find It? Formula and Properties

Even a verbalist who is not very familiar with the positive sciences is more or less interested in physics, because physics means life itself. We often use the concepts we call force, direction and speed, even during the day. What about acceleration? Although acceleration is one of the most fundamental subjects of physics, It is often confused with other concepts by non-experts.

In order to answer the question of what is acceleration, it is necessary to have a little knowledge of the other concepts of physics. Because acceleration actually occurs as a result of a change in velocity or direction. Contrary to popular belief, acceleration does not always mean acceleration. So it’s a bit complicated. Come the best, what is acceleration in its simplest form, how to find it Let’s take a closer look and see the formula and its basic properties.

Let’s start with a basic definition; Briefly, what is acceleration?

Acceleration, which is a vector quantity that has one direction and one magnitude, is the velocity of the object, either in the direction or both. is the change. In other words, for acceleration to occur, the speed of the object must decrease or slow down, its direction must change or both changes must be experienced together. As the definition suggests, velocity does not mean acceleration.

So, what exactly is acceleration?

You are in the car. You are traveling at 250 kilometers per hour. You have a lot of momentum, don’t you? No, you don’t actually have acceleration because You are moving in the same direction at a constant speed without changing speed or direction. Then you hit the brakes and your speed slowed down, or you came into a corner and turned the steering wheel to the right. Now you gain momentum.

The biggest reason why acceleration is confused with velocity or seen as the same is, if we go through the same example, driving at a constant speed without changing direction is that when you press the gas and accelerate at a time, you gain acceleration. However, many people ignore that when they brake and slow down or change direction, there is a change, that is, acceleration is gained.

So what is the acceleration formula?

• a = Δv / Δt = vf – vi / Δt

That is, according to this formula, the acceleration indicated by a is difference between initial speed and final speed is equal to dividing by change. The unit of acceleration that can be measured with the accelerometer is (m / s) / s, that is, m / s squared. There is another version of the acceleration formula vf = vi + aΔt.

How to find acceleration? Let’s take a look at the examples:

Example 1:

Question:

If a stationary animal accelerates to 12 meters per second in 3 seconds, what is its acceleration?

• Step #1: a = vf – vi / Δt
• Step #2: a = 12 – 0 / 3
• Step #3: a = 4 m/s squared

Example 2:

Question:

If the bird flying at 34 meters per second slows down with an acceleration of 8 meters per second squared, what is the speed of the bird after 3 seconds?

• Step #1: a = vf – vi / Δt
• Step #2: vf = vi + aΔt
• Step #3: vf = -34 + aΔt
• Step #4: vf = -34 + 8Δt
• Step #5: vf = -34 + 8 (3)
• Step #6: vf = – 10 m/s
• Step #7: Final speed = 10 m/s

The most confusing point in this example is that we start negative. We start negative because the bird is slowing down with acceleration. The reason why we take the final velocity as a positive value is that whatever the velocity is, it is a positive value. So even if it slows down, it is still at a plus speed.

Why are velocity and acceleration mixed up?

The main reason why acceleration is confused with velocity is due to incorrect reasoning. Because It is thought that when the speed of the object is high, the acceleration must be high. The same idea applies to smallness. But acceleration is change in a particular area. Even if an object is very slow or very fast, it can change its speed to a large extent.

Another misconception about acceleration is the effect of negative or positive acceleration on velocity. It is thought that positive acceleration accelerates the object, while negative acceleration slows the object down. However, acceleration is a vector quantity. That is, even if it has a negative or positive magnitude, a different velocity change than expected may occur due to the change in direction.

The acceleration properties are best understood by their direction:

The magnitude of the acceleration, whether it is negative or positive, is more important than the direction of the acceleration. If an acceleration is in the same direction as the object’s direction, the object accelerates. However, if an acceleration is in the opposite direction to the direction of the object, the object loses speed, that is, it slows down. In both cases, acceleration occurs because there is a change.

Basically, what we need to understand is that acceleration is a vector, that is, a quantity that has one direction and one magnitude. It does not create a constant velocity or constant direction acceleration. However, if there is a positive or negative change in velocity, a change in direction, or a change in both, then acceleration will occur.

Here are some more examples for better understanding:

• When the red light goes out and turns green, the car that starts to move forward has a low speed and a high acceleration.
• The speed and acceleration of the car traveling at a slow and constant speed are low.
• The speed and acceleration of a car that is trying to overtake other vehicles on the highway is high.
• A car traveling at a constant and high speed on the highway has high speed and low acceleration.

One of the most important subjects of physics what is acceleration, how to find it, what is its formula, what are its properties We answered frequently asked questions such as: Of course, like all science subjects, acceleration is an extremely deep and detailed subject, but in this article, we aimed to provide only basic information.