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
Oh they just smooshed it all together.
They measure speed in m/s. That is easily understood, a change in measurement per time. In this case the process is motion, we measure meters of distance, so it’s m/s.
Acceleration is speed with which the speed changes. Again, it is speed, again a change of measurement per time.
Only this time the measurement is m/s, so you get (m/s)/s. Like, in a second my speed changed from 2m/s to 5m/s, so my acceleration is 3(m/s)/s.
When a unit has relations like division and multiplication, you can do to it everything that algebra allows to do with analitic expressions. So, they do a very basic thing.
Since it’s a meter divided by a second, and all of that is divided by a second again, you can multiply those seconds and get s^2.
You can verify it in your head if you imagine specific numbers. Let’s say (32/2)/2. You can divide 32 by two and then again, so you get 8. Or you can do 32 divided by 2^4, which is again 8.
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