The unit to measure speed is m/s which in a straightforward manner implies that x metres is covered per second however the unit for acceleration is m/s^2 which is kind of making it difficult to understand how it works..
I had this thought in the middle of a physics test and have been pondering ever since. Would be great if someone could eli5.
In: Physics
The first thing we have to llok at is position, so called distance. For the first instant, we have one position, and then one second later we have another position. The difference between them is Velocity, aka Speed, distance over time. Now, we have a third second and third position. From position 2 to position 3 is another measure of distance, which took one second to cross, so we have a second velocity. Your Acceleration, velocity over time, would therefore be the difference between the two velocities, |V1 – V2|.
This comes in the unit of distance per time per time,which is where your confusion comes from. Think of it more as velocity per time, or the change in velocity.
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