How to calculate force without acceleration?
Answers
1
Define the equation for average acceleration. You can calculate the average acceleration of an object over a period of time based on its velocity (its speed traveling in a specific direction), before and after that time. To do this you need to know equation for acceleration: a = Δv / Δt where a is acceleration, Δv is the change in velocity, and Δt is the amount of time it took for that change to occur.[3]
The unit for acceleration is meters per second per second or m/s2.
Acceleration is a vector quantity, meaning it has both a magnitude and a direction.[4] The magnitude is the total amount of acceleration whereas the direction is the way in which the object is moving. If it is slowing down the acceleration will be negative.
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2
Understand the variables. You can further define Δv and Δt: Δv = vf - vi and Δt = tf - ti where vf is the final velocity, vi is the initial velocity, tf is the ending time, and ti is the starting time.[5]
Because acceleration has a direction, it is important to always subtract the initial velocity from the final velocity. If you reverse them, the direction of your acceleration will be incorrect.
Unless otherwise stated in the problem, the starting time is usually 0 seconds