Teachers Notes

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Acceleration is one of the most important concepts in Physics which is key to the Physics of both Newton (Newtonian Physics) and Einstein (General Theory of Relativity – don’t panic, the interpretation of acceleration in General Relativity is for those who go on to study Physics at University. For KS4 and KS5, it is the Newtonian interpretation of acceleration which needs to be understood).

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We are all familiar with acceleration. When you are sat in a car and the driver sets off from a standstill, we all feel the push back into our seat (same as when an aircraft takes off).

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Acceleration is, simply, the change from one speed (or velocity) to another over a given period of time. For example, all car companies quote something like “0 to 60 in 10 seconds”. The “0” means ‘0 miles per hour (back to speed mentioned above) and the “60” means ’60 miles per hour’ and the “10 seconds” is the time taken to change between the two speeds.

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As acceleration is the rate of change of velocity then the SI Unit for acceleration is "metres per second per second" i.e. m/s   or sometimes referred to as ms

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