Lecture

Acceleration: Motion in the Plane

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Description

This lecture covers the concepts of velocity and acceleration in the context of motion in the plane. It explains the difference between instantaneous and average velocity, as well as instantaneous and average acceleration. The lecture also discusses how acceleration is related to changes in velocity over time, emphasizing the direction and magnitude of acceleration vectors. Examples are provided to illustrate how acceleration affects the motion of objects, particularly in scenarios like projectile motion and free fall due to gravity.

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Physics

Mechanics: Classical mechanics

Related concepts (32)

Velocity

Velocity is the speed and the direction of motion of an object. Velocity is a fundamental concept in kinematics, the branch of classical mechanics that describes the motion of bodies. Velocity is a physical vector quantity: both magnitude and direction are needed to define it. The scalar absolute value (magnitude) of velocity is called , being a coherent derived unit whose quantity is measured in the SI (metric system) as metres per second (m/s or m⋅s−1). For example, "5 metres per second" is a scalar, whereas "5 metres per second east" is a vector.

Acceleration

In mechanics, acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity of an object with respect to time. Accelerations are vector quantities (in that they have magnitude and direction). The orientation of an object's acceleration is given by the orientation of the net force acting on that object. The magnitude of an object's acceleration, as described by Newton's Second Law, is the combined effect of two causes: the net balance of all external forces acting onto that object — magnitude is directly proportional to this net resulting force; that object's mass, depending on the materials out of which it is made — magnitude is inversely proportional to the object's mass.

Angular acceleration

In physics, angular acceleration (symbol α, alpha) is the time rate of change of angular velocity. Following the two types of angular velocity, spin angular velocity and orbital angular velocity, the respective types of angular acceleration are: spin angular acceleration, involving a rigid body about an axis of rotation intersecting the body's centroid; and orbital angular acceleration, involving a point particle and an external axis. Angular acceleration has physical dimensions of angle per time squared, measured in SI units of radians per second squared (rads-2).

Four-acceleration

In the theory of relativity, four-acceleration is a four-vector (vector in four-dimensional spacetime) that is analogous to classical acceleration (a three-dimensional vector, see three-acceleration in special relativity). Four-acceleration has applications in areas such as the annihilation of antiprotons, resonance of strange particles and radiation of an accelerated charge. In inertial coordinates in special relativity, four-acceleration is defined as the rate of change in four-velocity with respect to the particle's proper time along its worldline.

Motion

In physics, motion is the phenomenon by which an object changes its position with respect to time. Motion is mathematically described in terms of displacement, distance, velocity, acceleration, speed, and frame of reference to an observer, measuring the change in position of the body relative to that frame with a change in time. The branch of physics describing the motion of objects without reference to their cause is called kinematics, while the branch studying forces and their effect on motion is called dynamics.

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