In everyday conversation, accelerating means speeding up. Acceleration is a vector in the same direction as the change in velocity, Δv, therefore the greater the acceleration, the greater the change in velocity over a given time. Since velocity is a vector, it can change in magnitude, direction, or both. Thus acceleration is a change in speed or direction, or both. For example, if a runner traveling at 10 km/h due east slows to a stop, reverses direction, and continues their run at 10 km/h due...

The importance of understanding acceleration spans our day-to-day experiences, as well as the vast reaches of outer space and the tiny world of subatomic physics. In everyday conversation, to accelerate means to speed up. For instance, we are familiar with the acceleration of our car; the harder we apply our foot to the gas pedal, the faster we accelerate. The greater the acceleration, the greater the change in velocity over a given time. Acceleration is widely seen in experimental physics. In...

Acceleration is in the direction of the change in velocity, but it is not always in the direction of motion. When an object slows down, its acceleration is opposite to the direction of its motion. Although commonly referred to as deceleration, this causes confusion in our analysis as deceleration is not a vector, and does not point to a specific direction with respect to a coordinate system. Therefore, the term deceleration is not used. For example, when a subway train slows down, it...

A slider-crank mechanism converts rotational motion from the crank into linear motion of the slider or vice versa. This mechanism consists of three main parts: the crank, the connecting rod, and the slider. The movement of the slider-crank is an example of general plane motion as the fluctuating angle between the crank and the connecting rod. Consider a segment AB where point A is at the end of the slider and point B is on the diametrically opposite end to point A, on a crack. The variance in...

Acceleration occurs when velocity changes in magnitude (an increase or decrease in speed), direction, or both. Although acceleration is in the direction of the change in velocity, it is not always in the direction of motion. When an object slows down, its acceleration is opposite to the direction of its motion. This is commonly referred to as deceleration. However, the term deceleration can cause confusion in analysis because it is not a vector; it does not point to a specific direction with...

An object's apparent weight is its weight measured by a spring balance at its location. It is different from its true weight, the force with which the Earth pulls it, because of the Earth's rotation. Mathematically, an object's apparent weight equals its true weight minus the centripetal force that keeps it in a circular motion along with the Earth's surface every 24 hours.
The difference between the true and apparent weights is proportional to the square of the Earth's angular speed. Since the...