What is acceleration and velocity?

Answer 1

Acceleration and velocityVelocity - which is not quite the same thing as speed -- is the measure of the rate of change in position. In other words, to calculate velocity, we divide the change in an object's displacement -- how far it moved -- by the time it took to move. If an object moves, say, 100 feet in 10 seconds, its velocity is 100/10 = 10 feet per second (ft/s).

Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. If an object increases its speed from, say, 10 ft/s to 60 ft/s in five seconds, its acceleration is 10 feet per second per second, or 10 feet per second squared (ft/s2).

How did we arrive at that figure? Divide the change in velocity by the change in time. The change in velocity is 60 - 10 = 50 ft/s. The change in time is 5 - 0 = 5 s. Hence, 50/5 = 10 ft/s2.

Answer 2

Velocity is the speed of an object in any given direction (constant); acceleration measures the change in speed of an object over time.