what is the definition of "acceleration?"?

Answer 1

Yo,

Acceleration is the rate of change of speed/velocity of an object.

It's units is meter / second^2. m/(s^-2)

ie., speed/time or velocity/time.

Peace out.

Answer 2

Acceleration is a vector quantity which is defined as "the rate at which an object changes its velocity." An object is accelerating if it is changing its velocity. It is thus a vector quantity with dimension length/time². In SI units, acceleration is measured in meters/second² using an accelerometer.

To accelerate an object is to change its velocity, which is accomplished by altering either its speed or direction (like in case of uniform circular motion) in relation to time. In this strict mathematical sense, acceleration can have positive and negative values. Any time that the sign (+ or -) of the acceleration is the same as the sign of the velocity, the object will speed up. If the signs are opposite, the object will slow down. Acceleration is a vector defined by properties of magnitude (size or measurablility) and direction. When either velocity or direction are changed, there is acceleration (or deceleration).

Acceleration is defined technically as "the rate of change of velocity of an object with respect to time" and the instantaneous acceleration of an objection is given by the equation

a=(dv)/(dt)

where:
a- is the acceleration vector (as acceleration is a vector, it must be described with both a direction and a magnitude).
v- is the velocity
t is time
d- is Leibniz's notation for differentiation


Sports announcers will occasionally say that a person is accelerating if he/she is moving fast. Yet acceleration has nothing to do with going fast. A person can be moving very fast, and still not be accelerating. Acceleration has to do with changing how fast an object is moving. If an object is not changing its velocity, then the object is not accelerating.

Answer 3

The rate of change of velocity with respect to time. Take an object traveling in space at a certain speed without at a constant velocity, the object has speed but no acceleration, there has to be a rate of change of velocity (positive or negative); acceleration if there's a speed increase rate, and deceleration if there's a speed decrease rate.

Answer 4

5 results for: acceleration
View results from: Dictionary | Thesaurus | Encyclopedia | the Web

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1) - Cite This Source
ac‧cel‧er‧a‧tion  /ækˌsɛləˈreɪʃən/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[ak-sel-uh-rey-shuhn] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun 1. the act of accelerating; increase of speed or velocity.
2. a change in velocity.
3. Mechanics. the time rate of change of velocity with respect to magnitude or direction; the derivative of velocity with respect to time.


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[Origin: 1525–35; < L accelerātiōn- (s. of accelerātiō). See accelerate, -ion]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.0.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source ac·cel·er·a·tion (k-sl-rshn) Pronunciation Key
n.

The act of accelerating.
The process of being accelerated.
Abbr. a Physics. The rate of change of velocity with respect to time.


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Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source
Main Entry: ac·cel·er·a·tion
Pronunciation: ik-"sel-&-'rA-sh&n, (")ak-
Function: noun
1 : the act or process of accelerating : the state of being accelerated
2 : change of velocity; also : the rate of this change
3 : advancement in mental growth or achievement beyond the average for one's age

Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
WordNet - Cite This Source
acceleration

n 1: an increase in speed; "modern science caused an acceleration of cultural change" [ant: deceleration] 2: the act of accelerating; increasing the speed [syn: quickening, speedup] 3: (physics) a rate of change of velocity

WordNet ® 2.0, © 2003 Princeton University
On-line Medical Dictionary - Cite This Source
acceleration

acceleration: in CancerWEB's On-line Medical Dictionary

On-line Medical Dictionary, © 1997-98 Academic Medical Publishing &

Answer 5

Increasing rate of change. Note that acceleration can be used in other contexts other than velocity.

Answer 6

"In physics or physical science, acceleration (symbol: a) is defined as the rate of change (or derivative with respect to time) of velocity."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acceleration
Simply put, it is when speed is increased.

Answer 7

to get the definition, look at the units of measure

Answer 8

to speed up a process

Answer 9

the process of goin faster

Answer 10

dunno. look it up in a dictionary or sumthin