Question

What does the gravity unit `m/s^2` stand for?

Answer 1

`m/s^2` represents acceleration.

Explanation:

Speed, in metres* per second (`m/s`) is the rate of change of distance, or how much distance (`m`) is covered in a certain time (`s`).

Acceleration is the rate of change of speed (or velocity, if working with vectors), or the change in speed (in `m/s`) every second, or `(m/s)/s`, which is simplified to `m/s^2` or `ms^(-2)`.

Since a falling object accelerates due to the force of gravity, gravity is expressed in terms of that acceleration, which is approximately constant anywhere on the surface of the Earth at 9.8 `m/s^2`.

*I'm in Canada, we spell it "metres" rather than "meters".