Instantaneous acceleration is that which is recorded at a specific moment and at a specific point on a trajectory.
Instantaneous acceleration is the acceleration that an object has at a given moment and at a specific point in its trajectory . It can also be said that the instantaneous acceleration is the limit of the average acceleration (the division of the change in speed by the time that passes when moving between two points) at the moment in which the time interval tends to zero ( 0 ).
Before moving forward with the idea of instantaneous acceleration , it is important to keep in mind that, for there to be acceleration, an object must modify its speed of travel. The change in said speed in a time unit is what we know as acceleration.
It should be noted that the Latin term acceleratĭo came to Spanish as acceleration . The concept refers to the act and consequence of accelerating: granting speed , increasing speed. Instant , on the other hand, is something that is generated immediately or lasts a very short period of time.
What is instantaneous acceleration
In simple words, instantaneous acceleration is the acceleration that an object carries at a specific instant . This acceleration can be measured when the average acceleration recorded between two very brief moments is known (as close as possible to 0 ). When the acceleration that exists between two very close moments is discovered, the instantaneous acceleration is obtained.
In addition to everything stated above, we can also add that instantaneous acceleration is a vector-type magnitude that is made up of several fundamental and differentiated parts:
- The direction and direction, which are clearly dependent on the change in speed.
- The module, which can be represented through Cartesian coordinates in two dimensions or three dimensions.
For all this, it can be noted that the instantaneous acceleration is equivalent to the limit of increase in speed that exists when the time period tends to 0 .
Because the average acceleration between two points is calculated by dividing the change in the body's speed by the time that elapsed in moving from one point to the other, the instantaneous acceleration is equivalent to the acceleration that is recorded when moving forward for a period close to the 0 .
Instantaneous acceleration is a vector quantity.
Other information of interest
No less important is knowing another set of data about instantaneous acceleration:
- The units of acceleration are fundamentally two. If you opt for the cegesimal system, you opt for the use of the Gal , which is a "homage" to Galileo Galilei and indicates the centimeter per second . Its equivalence with the international system is that 1 Gal is equivalent to 0.01 m s-2 .
- It is not the only kind of acceleration that exists and is studied within the field of Physics . Thus, we also have tangential acceleration , centripetal acceleration , angular acceleration ...
- It is important to know that although the speed of a specific object is positive, its acceleration can be negative . In this way, what would become clear is that the speed is decreasing.