What is Vector Acceleration in Physics? (Centripetal, Instantaneous & Average Acceleration) -[1-4-2]

More Lessons: http://www.MathAndScience.com
Twitter:   / jasongibsonmath  

In this lesson, we will learn what acceleration is in physics and how to calculate it. More specifically, we learn how acceleration works in two and three dimensions and it acts as a vector that has magnitude and direction. We will learn that the acceleration is the derivative of the velocity, which is the rate of change of the velocity with respect to time. The change in velocity can be caused by a change in speed or a change in direction of motion. We show how this works in two dimensions. We also examine motion along a circle, which gives rise to centripetal acceleration. In all cases, we can define an average acceleration, and we can take the limit to find the instantaneous acceleration at a point along the motion.