Encyclopedia of Science | Acceleration

• Acceleration and force
• Linear acceleration
• Circular acceleration
• Words to Know

Acceleration is a measure of the rate at which the velocity of an object is changing. If you are riding in a car traveling in a straight line at a constant 50 kilometers per hour, you experience no acceleration because the car's velocity (rate of motion) is not changing. If the car begins to speed up, acceleration occurs because the car's velocity increases. If the car slows down, negative acceleration, or deceleration, occurs because the car's velocity decreases.

Acceleration and force

Our understanding of acceleration is due to the work of two great scientists, Italian physicist Galileo Galilei (1564–1642) and English physicist Isaac...