What Are the Different Types of Acceleration in Non-Uniform Motion?

In summary, the conversation discusses various accelerations, including centripital, linear, and total acceleration, as well as the confusion over other terms such as normal and tangential acceleration. It is clarified that centripetal and linear accelerations are the components of total acceleration, and that they relate to changes in direction and magnitude, respectively.
  • #1
LearninDaMath
295
0
My question is in regard to non uniform motion with changing velocities, such as a skier moving along a curved ski-jump.

I'm kind of confused about the various acceleration vocabulary. I know of centripital, linear, and total acceleration of an object that is changing speed and direction. Are there any other accelerations that exist? I keep hearing about normal acceleration, but is that just a synonym for centripital acceleration? And Tangential is just another name for the linear acceleration, right?

So it's just those three accelerations: centripital, linear, and total?

And centripital is the acceleration related to change in direction. Linear is related to change in magnitude (or actual speed). And centripital and linear are just the components that make up total acceleration?

Is this all correct so far?
 
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  • #2
LearninDaMath said:
My question is in regard to non uniform motion with changing velocities, such as a skier moving along a curved ski-jump.

I'm kind of confused about the various acceleration vocabulary. I know of centripital, linear, and total acceleration of an object that is changing speed and direction. Are there any other accelerations that exist? I keep hearing about normal acceleration, but is that just a synonym for centripital acceleration? And Tangential is just another name for the linear acceleration, right?

So it's just those three accelerations: centripital, linear, and total?

And centripital is the acceleration related to change in direction. Linear is related to change in magnitude (or actual speed). And centripital and linear are just the components that make up total acceleration?

Is this all correct so far?

That reads like a reasonable summary.
 

What is acceleration?

Acceleration is the rate of change of an object's velocity over time. It is a vector quantity, meaning it has both magnitude and direction.

What are the components of acceleration?

The components of acceleration are magnitude and direction. Magnitude refers to the amount of change in velocity, while direction refers to the direction in which the velocity is changing.

How is acceleration calculated?

Acceleration is calculated by dividing the change in velocity by the change in time. The formula for acceleration is a = (vf - vi) / t, where a is acceleration, vf is final velocity, vi is initial velocity, and t is time.

What is the difference between average and instantaneous acceleration?

Average acceleration is the change in velocity over a specific period of time, while instantaneous acceleration is the acceleration at a specific moment in time. Average acceleration is calculated using the final and initial velocities over a specific time interval, while instantaneous acceleration is calculated using the derivative of the position function with respect to time.

What are some real-world examples of acceleration?

Some real-world examples of acceleration include a car accelerating from 0 to 60 miles per hour, a ball falling due to gravity, and a rocket launching into space. Any time an object changes its velocity, it is experiencing acceleration.

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