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Acceleration | ![]() |
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. At any point on a speed-time graph, the magnitude of the acceleration is given by the slope of the tangent to the curve at that point.
In physics, acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity, or as the second derivative of position (with respect to time). It is then a vector quantity with dimension length/time˛. In SI units, acceleration is measured in meters/second˛ (mˇs-2). The term "acceleration" generally refers to the change in instantaneous velocity.
In common speech, the term acceleration is only used for an increase in speed; a decrease in speed is called deceleration. In physics, any increase or decrease in speed is referred to as acceleration and similarly, motion in a circle at constant speed is also an acceleration, since the direction component of the velocity is changing. See also Newton's Laws of Motion.
(source: Acceleration. (2008, March 16). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 20:14, March 16, 2008, from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Acceleration&oldid=198682694)
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