Skip to main content

All Questions

Filter by
Sorted by
Tagged with
-2 votes
1 answer
59 views

Need help in understanding Tangential Acceleration [closed]

I am studying Circular motion and I am confused about tangential acceleration and tangential velocity. I am studying uniform circular motion and it says the tangential acceleration is $0$ in uniform ...
9 votes
4 answers
4k views

Is it ever possible that the object is moving with a velocity such that its rate of change of speed is not constant but acceleration is constant?

Is it ever possible that the object is moving with a velocity such that its rate of change of speed is not constant, but rate of change of velocity is constant? Like speed is only the magnitude, so ...
4 votes
4 answers
413 views

Suppose there is a vector $\vec v$ which is a function of time, then will $\dfrac{d}{dt}|\vec v|$ be a vector quantity or a scalar quantity?

Suppose there is a vector $\vec v$ which is a function of time, then will $\dfrac{d}{dt}|\vec v|$ be a vector quantity or a scalar quantity? I think it should be scalar because, let's assume $\vec v=...
0 votes
1 answer
89 views

In $a = dv/dt$, is $a$ the net acceleration? [closed]

While going through the calculus approach to accelerate, we have, $$a = dv/dt, $$ I think, here, v and a should be in the same axis, is my process correct? in a planar motion in two dimensions, it ...
0 votes
1 answer
48 views

In circular motion is acceleration vector and $\frac{dv}{dt}$ the same?

I was studying a book in which they have written this $$ a = -w^{2} r \hat{e} + \frac{dv }{dt} \ddot{e} \tag{1} \label{1}$$ Where $a$ is acceleration vector $\hat{e}$ is unit radial vector and $\ddot{...
-1 votes
2 answers
67 views

Instantanous and uniform velocity and acceleration [closed]

If the mathemical expression of instantanous velocity is $d/t$, what is the mathematical expression of uniform velocity. If the mathematical expression of instantanous acceleration is $v/t$, what is ...
0 votes
0 answers
45 views

Physical and Diagrammatic representation of $a$=undefined when $v$=0 according to $a$=$vdv$/$dx$

$a$=acceleration $v$=velocity $x$=position along x axis $t$=time instant My teacher derived the $a$=$v$$dv$/$dx$ formula as follows Assume a particle at time $t$ is at $x$ position having $v$ velocity ...
0 votes
6 answers
260 views

Why is force not dependent upon velocity but on acceleration?

Force is not dependent upon velocity but on acceleration but acceleration is dependent upon velocity, What i mean is a=change in velocity/change in time.So in order to calculate acceleration i need ...
2 votes
1 answer
435 views

When exactly does velocity increase or decrease on an acceleration time graph? [closed]

How does the acceleration time graph show if and object is speeding up or slowing down? Is it possible to find the answer without any deep calculations? If yes then how? Like how can I find the ...
5 votes
2 answers
2k views

How does instantaneous velocity or acceleration have any other numerical value than 0? [duplicate]

Instantaneous velocity is defined as the limit of average velocity as the time interval ∆t becomes infinitesimally small. Average velocity is defined as the change in position divided by the time ...
1 vote
2 answers
319 views

What is the time derivative of the linear velocity vector $\vec{v}\,(t)$?

If $\vec{v}\,(t)$ denotes linear velocity, we can then write $\vec{v}\,(t)$ as $|v(t)|\hat{v}$. My question is what is $\displaystyle\frac{d\vec{v}\,(t)}{dt}?$ The answer I have seen to this question ...
0 votes
1 answer
42 views

Is such a situation realistically possible where $v$-$t$ graph is continuous but $a$-$t$ graph is not?

Taking for example $v = \cos(t-1)$ from $t \in [0,1]$ and $v = e^{t-1}$ from $t \in (1,\infty)$ and $t \ge 0$. At $t = 1$, the function shifts from cosine to exponential, but remains continuous since ...
3 votes
2 answers
233 views

Generalization of straight line motion under constant acceleration

My question is that, we all know the three equations of straight line motion under constant acceleration, \begin{align} x & =x_{\rm o}+v_{\rm o}\,t+\tfrac12 \mathrm a\,t^2 \tag{1d-a}\label{1d-a}\\ ...
1 vote
1 answer
459 views

Expressing acceleration in terms of velocity and derivative of velocity with respect to position

we know that $$a = \dfrac{dv}{dt}$$ dividing numerator and denominator by $dx$, we get $$a=v\dfrac{dv}{dx}$$ provided that $dx$ is not equal to zero or instantaneous velocity not equal to zero when I ...
1 vote
2 answers
3k views

Velocity time graph analysis: what does a concave downward $v$-$t$ curve mean?

This is a screenshot from the lecture about the analysis of various velocity-time graphs I was watching. I understand that the concavity of velocity-time graph will tell about the increasing or ...
9 votes
4 answers
2k views

Can I find the acceleration or velocity when my displacement-time graph is discontinuous?

Today, I encountered the problem where I was asked to find the velocity and acceleration from displacement-time graph but the displacement-time graph was discontinuous. So I am unable to find the ...
1 vote
2 answers
167 views

Velocity and acceleration in special relativity

I would like to compute what the constant acceleration trajectories are in the Minkowski spacetime $(t, x)$ with $d\tau^2 = dt^2 - dx^2$. So given some trajectory $x(t)$ I know the velocity vector is ...
0 votes
3 answers
232 views

Are acceleration and velocity simultaneous? [closed]

I would think yes because, if a rope tied to a swinging rock breaks, the rock flies off in the direction that is perpendicular to the direction of the last instant of the acceleration. The ...
1 vote
2 answers
557 views

In the equation: $a = dv/dt$ , is $dt$ the time taken to achieve that instantaneous acceleration?

If you solve for $dt$ from $a = \frac{dv}{dt}$ , is it the time taken to to achieved that instantaneous acceleration? $a$ : acceleration $v$ : velocity $t$ : time
0 votes
1 answer
90 views

When the rate of acceleration changes it's sign how does the velocity change?

When the rate of acceleration changes its sign how does the velocity change? When another derivative of distance with respect to time is increased how does it affect factors like displacement and ...
1 vote
4 answers
58 views

Can we calculate centripetal acceleration by using this method $\frac{\mathbf v_2-\mathbf v_1}{T}$?

If we know the angle between two velocity vectors $\mathbf v_1$ and $\mathbf v_2$, and if we know the time $T$ it takes for the velocity to change from $\mathbf v_1$ to $\mathbf v_2$,then is it ...
0 votes
3 answers
511 views

Can you use $a=$$\frac{\Delta v}{\Delta t}$ instead of $\frac{dv}{dt}$ to find instantaneous acceleration?

Can you use $\frac{\Delta v}{\Delta t}$ instead of $\frac{dv}{dt}$ to find instantaneous acceleration?
1 vote
2 answers
133 views

Related to the information contained in $a = v \frac {dv}{ds}$

While studying kinematics I came to the definition of acceleration which is $a = \frac {dv}{dt}$. But from this equation we can derive that $ a = v \frac {dv}{ds} $ which when I evaluate at $v=0ms^{-1}...
11 votes
4 answers
3k views

When the direction of a movement changes, is the object at rest at some time?

The question I asked was disputed amongst XVIIe century physicists (at least before the invention of calculus). Reference: Spinoza, Principles of Descartes' philosophy ( Part II: Descartes' Physics, ...
1 vote
1 answer
554 views

Meaning of normal acceleration?

acceleration means the rate of change in velocity (vector quantity) and the differentiation means to divide a certain quantity into small elements (i.e $dx$) as we do to find the acceleration at any ...
6 votes
6 answers
1k views

Question about derivation of kinematics equations

Apologies if this has been asked before, but I browsed the sub and couldn't find something specific. I understand the derivation for one of the equations as follows: \begin{gather} \frac{dv}{dt} = a ...
0 votes
2 answers
2k views

Confused with derivative and partial derivative

suppose $x=f(t)$ with a constant acceleration. Then does $\frac{\text d x}{\text d t} = \frac{\partial (x)}{\partial(t)}$ since the position in $x$ only changes with time? Then the acceleration in ...
0 votes
3 answers
38 views

Why the acceleration is specified if I know the coordinates and velocity?

And I don’t understand why the acceleration can be specified if we know the coordinates and velocity
-1 votes
1 answer
3k views

How to find Net Force with constant velocity? [closed]

Does having a constant velocity always make the acceleration equal zero? For example: A 5 kg ball is moving at constant velocity of 15 m/s. What is the net force on the ball? If the formula is $F_{...
0 votes
4 answers
6k views

Position vs time graph with constant acceleration

Wondering from the position vs time graph of an object moving with constant acceleration. How could you find the velocity? So the position vs time graph would be a parabola. I am thinking that the ...
-1 votes
2 answers
121 views

Acceleration and velocity

I'm a freshmen student, I got this question in my mind why we consider acceleration based on velocity not speed. as far as I know, velocity will be zero if we go and back from A to B although speed ...
1 vote
4 answers
6k views

When we take time derivative of a function of time, then is the result another function of time, again?

(I'll try to explain my question by one known example), for example where the velocity is a function of time v(t) then its time derivative (which is acceleration: $a=\frac {dv}{dt}$) is another ...