Explain the acceleration.

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The time rate of change of velocity is called acceleration.

Let a particle be moving in a straight line and at time $t_{1}$ and $t_{2}$ its velocities are $v_{1}$ and $v_{2}$ respectively.

- Thus, the change in velocity of the particle in time interval $\Delta t=t_{2}-t_{1}$ is $v_{2}-v_{1}$.

According to definition of average acceleration,

$\text { Average acceleration }=\frac{\text { change in velocity }}{\text { time }}$

$\therefore\langle a\rangle=\frac{v_{2}-v_{1}}{t_{2}-t_{1}}=\frac{\Delta v}{\Delta t}$

Average acceleration is a vector quantity and its direction is in the direction of change in velocity $(\Delta v)$.

The unit of acceleration is $\mathrm{ms}^{-2}$.

- From average acceleration we cannot know how the velocity of particle changes with time.

Taking $\lim _{\Delta t \rightarrow 0}$ in equation then we get instantaneous acceleration $a$ at time $t$.

$\therefore a=\lim _{\Delta t \rightarrow 0} \frac{\Delta v}{\Delta t}=\frac{d v}{d t}$

Now, $v=\frac{d x}{d t}$ 

$\therefore a=\frac{d v}{d t}=\frac{d}{d t}\left(\frac{d x}{d t}\right)$

$\therefore a=\frac{d^{2} x}{d t^{2}}=x$

In other words second derivative of position with respect to time is acceleration of a particle.

If $\frac{d v}{d t}$ is positive, acceleration is along the positive X-axis and if $\frac{d v}{d t}$ is negative the acceleration is along the negative X-axis.

Similar Questions

A particle starts from origin at $t=0$ with a velocity $5 \hat{i} \mathrm{~m} / \mathrm{s}$ and moves in $x-y$ plane under action of a force which produces a constant acceleration of $(3 \hat{i}+2 \hat{j}) \mathrm{m} / \mathrm{s}^2$. If the $x$-coordinate of the particle at that instant is $84 \mathrm{~m}$, then the speed of the particle at this time is $\sqrt{\alpha} \mathrm{m} / \mathrm{s}$. The value of $\alpha$ is___________.

  • [JEE MAIN 2024]

$Assertion$ : A body with constant acceleration always moves along a straight line.

$Reason$ : A body with constant acceleration may not speed up.

  • [AIIMS 1998]

A particle moves along a straight line. Its position at any instant is given by $x=32 t-\frac{8 t^3}{4}$, where $x$ is in metre and $t$ is in second. Find the acceleration of the particle at the instant when particle is at rest $..........\,m / s ^2$

Figure shows the position of a particle moving on the $x$-axis as a function of time

The velocity $(v)$-time $(t)$ graph for a particle moving along $x$-axis is shown in the figure. The corresponding position $(x)$ - time $(t)$ is best represented by