I was looking for the equation for acceleration, and I found this webpage:

 

http://www2.franciscan.edu/academic/mathsci/mathscienceintegation/MathScienceIntegation-836.htm

 

However, this equation doens't help me, because in my current situation, I don't know the final velocity.

 

I know the starting velocity was 0 m/s, because the object whose acceleration I'm trying to calculate started in a stationary position.

 

What's the equation for figuring out the acceleration if you begin at rest, and then traverse d meters over the course of t seconds? Obviously, the AVERAGE velocity would be d/t, but how do I calculate the acceleration?

If the acceleration is contstant, the average velocity is half the final velocity.

The acceleration would be the second derivative of the distance with respect to time, which is written as

 

d²s/dt²

 

Where s is distance and t is time

Ok, hypothetical scenario:

 

If I'm in a parked car, and then I step on the gas, traveling the hypotnuse of a 100m x 100m right triangle in 10 seconds, then I'd be traveling a straight distance of 141.42 meters, right?

 

So, if I do so in 10 seconds, then my average speed is 14.14 m/s, right?

 

So, you're saying that my final velocity is 28.28 m/s?

 

So, that would mean that my average acceleration would be 2.83 m/(s^2)?

 

Is that about right?

The acceleration would be the second derivative of the distance with respect to time, which is written as

 

d²s/dt²

 

Where s is distance and t is time

So, what's the d stand for?

d would be for the derivative. If you had a function f(x) which is the same as y, then you could write the derivative 2 ways. One is f'(x). The second is dy/dx.

With the second derivative, you could also write it 2 ways. One is f''(x). The other is d²y/dx²

I think that you need to find a better website, that one was rather elementary.

 

Science Forums is a good one

 

 

If

u is the initial velocity

v is the final velocity

s is the distance travelled

t is the time is the time of travel

f is the acceleration, which must be constant throughout t

 

There are several equations to choose from when doing these problems.

 

v = u +ft

v² = u²+ 2fs

s = ut + 1/2 ft²

s = vt - 1/2 ft²

 

s = 1/2(v+u)t

 

Remember that deceleration is negative acceleration ie f is negative for deceleration.

Edited November 30, 201312 yr by studiot

I was looking for the equation for acceleration, and I found this webpage:

 

http://www2.franciscan.edu/academic/mathsci/mathscienceintegation/MathScienceIntegation-836.htm

 

However, this equation doens't help me, because in my current situation, I don't know the final velocity.

 

I know the starting velocity was 0 m/s, because the object whose acceleration I'm trying to calculate started in a stationary position.

 

What's the equation for figuring out the acceleration if you begin at rest, and then traverse d meters over the course of t seconds? Obviously, the AVERAGE velocity would be d/t, but how do I calculate the acceleration?

 

d = 1/2 at² if the acceleration is constant and it starts at rest. Thus, a = 2d/t²

 

This is from the basic kinematics equation s = v₀t + 1/2 at² which you get by taking a = dv/dt integrating twice (also using v = ds/dt).

 

If acceleration is not constant, then you don't have enough information to solve the problem.