# Acceleration

Written by Jerry Ratzlaff on . Posted in Classical Mechanics

Acceleration, abbreviated as a, is the rate of change of velocity. Whenever a mass experiences a force, an acceleration is acting.  Acceleration is a vector quantity having magnitude and direction, some of these include displacement, drag, force, lift, momentum, thrust, torque, velocity and weight.

## Average Acceleration

The average acceleration is different than the instantaneous acceleration.  Average acceleration is the rate of change of velocity over a given amount of time. Whereas, instantaneous accleration is the change of velocity at a specific point in time.

 $$\large{ a = \frac{ \Delta v }{ t } }$$          $$\large{ a = \frac{ v_f \;-\; v_i }{ t } }$$         Where: $$\large{ a }$$ = acceleration $$\large{ t }$$ = time $$\large{ v }$$ = velocity $$\large{ \Delta v }$$ = velocity differential $$\large{ v_f }$$ = final velocity $$\large{ v_i }$$ = initial velocity Solve for: $$\large{ v = v_i + a \; t }$$ $$\large{ v_i = v - a \; t }$$