What is the Magnitude of Acceleration?

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    Acceleration Magnitude
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SUMMARY

The magnitude of acceleration refers to the absolute value of acceleration, disregarding its direction. In the context of physics, when acceleration is expressed as -6 m/s², the magnitude is simply 6 m/s². This concept parallels the relationship between speed and velocity, where speed is the magnitude of velocity. Therefore, the magnitude of acceleration quantifies how much an object is accelerating, irrespective of whether the acceleration is positive or negative.

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  • Basic mathematical skills for calculating changes in velocity over time.
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tomas123
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My prof. made me question what magnitude of acceleration is.. Is it acceleration without direction, i.e -6 m/s/s becomes 6 m/s/s or is it ΔV(speed)/Δt (Sorta like magnitude of acceleration is to acceleration what speed is to velocity)?
 
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The magnitude of acceleration is just how much the object is accelerating regardless of the direction. So if the example is -6 [itex]\frac{m}{s^{2}}[/itex] then you're looking for how much is it accelerating in general which would be 6 [itex]\frac{m}{s^{2}}[/itex] like you said.
 

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