Key Concept 3 - Acceleration
Key Concept 3 - Acceleration
Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of Remember the units for acceleration
velocity in other are meters per second squared, m/s2. In
other words, acceleration measures how
words, it describes how much an object’s velocity much the velocity (in m/s) changes every
changes every second. second, m/s/s.
The equation below is used to calculate the average
acceleration of an object: Speeding Up & Slowing Down
 An object that speeds up is accelerating

An object that slows down is decelerating
The acceleration of an object can be positive or negative,
Where: depending on whether the object is speeding up or
slowing down
a = acceleration in meters per second squared (m/s2)
Δv = change in velocity in meters per second (m/s) If an object is speeding up, its acceleration is positive
Δt = time taken in seconds (s) If an object is slowing down, its acceleration is negative
The change in velocity is found by (sometimes called deceleration)
the difference between the initial and final velocity, as
written below:
change in velocity = final velocity − initial Deceleration
velocity Deceleration always refers to acceleration in the direction
Δv = v − u opposite to that of the velocity. It always reduces speed.
Where:
𝑐
𝑎
𝑛
𝑔
𝑒
𝑖
𝑛
𝑡
𝑖
𝑚
𝑒
=
𝐴
𝑐
𝑐
𝑒
𝑙
𝑒
𝑟
𝑎
𝑡
𝑖
𝑜
𝑛
h
𝑐
𝑎
𝑛
𝑔
𝑒
𝑖
𝑛
𝑣
𝑒
𝑙
𝑜
𝑐
𝑖
𝑡
𝑦
∆
𝑅
𝑢
𝑛
𝑡
= = =
𝑎
𝐺
𝑟
𝑎
𝑑
𝑖
𝑒
𝑛
𝑡
∆
𝑅
𝑖
𝑠
𝑒
𝑣
If the area beneath the graph forms a triangle (the object
is accelerating or decelerating) then the area can be
determined using the formula:

If the area beneath the graph forms a rectangle (constant
velocity) then the area can be determined using the
formula: