A thought I had about inertia, and derivatives of acceleration

[Sundown444]

Well, I just had this thought earlier, and I want to share it. Here it is.

So, we all know about inertia, right? The resistance to acceleration, or change in motion. Well, there is also a concept about derivatives of acceleration, mainly jerk and yank. If you don't know, jerk is said to be the rate of change in acceleration, and yank a rate of change in force. Now, about inertia, here is the thought I have in mind.

If inertia resists acceleration, and therefore reduces it when a force is applied to something, what if inertia actually acted as a yank, and thus jerk to acceleration, reducing it when a force is applied? I mean, I know I could be wrong, because science itself is complex, and there are many possible reasons why I could be wrong. Not to mention that I know that inertia is a property of matter, which is equal to mass, not a force in itself, let alone a yank. Maybe it is a property that provides yank, and thus jerk to acceleration somehow as the resistance to change in motion? Kinda like how friction, even though it is a force unlike inertia, resists motion and slows it down?

Well, that is about it. Feel free to correct me on anything here, or otherwise share your thoughts on this.

 

[jedishrfu]

Sadly, your notions of relating inertia to yank and jerk are totally off base.

Inertia is the resistance of an object to changing its state of motion. For Newtonian physics, the object could be stationary or it could be moving in a straight line. A force is applied to it results in the object either changing speed or changing direction or both.

The time derivative terms you are looking for beyond acceleration are: jerk(aka jolt), snap(aka jounce), crackle and pop and for force are: yank, tug, snatch, and shake

http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/jerk.html

Momentum = mass x velocity

Force = mass x acceleration

Yank = mass x jerk

Tug = mass x snap

Snatch = mass x crackle

Shake = mass x pop

You can learn more about inertia at Khan Academy:



Basic physics seldom covers these higher derivatives which can come into play in real-world problems.

Some examples of where that might happen is in a rocket launch. The rocket accelerates upward to counter the force of gravity. As it moves it is losing mass due to burning its fuel and expelling the gases. Of course, modern rockets control the burn rate to maintain a constant acceleration and minimize fuel consumption.

Since there is nothing more to say here, it's time to close the thread.