Question #841cf

1 Answer
Oct 11, 2014

Change in velocity is called acceleration. To calculate the acceleration of an object over a given time interval you can measure the initial velocity (#v_i#) at some time and then the final velocity (#v_f#) some time later. In the equation below the initial time is noted as #t_i# and the final time as #t_f#.
#a = (v_f-v_i)/(t_f-t_i)#

If a car accelerates from rest to 32 m/s in 4 seconds, you can calculate the acceleration to be:
#a = (32 - 0)/(4-0) = 8 (m)/(s^2)#

If you know a little calculus, the instantaneous velocity is simply the derivative of the velocity with respect to time. This is also the second derivative of the position vs. time.