Acceleration Calculator

Calculate the acceleration from velocity and time, with different units. The acceleration is e.g. needed to determine the force which acts on a mass. A mass, on which no physical force acts, is at rest or in a constant movement.
The formula for the acceleration is a=v/t, the unit is m/s². The velocity v means the increase in speed in the time t. g is the average gravitational acceleration on Earth. Please enter two of the three values ​​for velocity, time and acceleration to calculate the third value. For velocity, metric units and miles per hour can be entered. For acceleration, m/s² is the common standard unit.

Example: a car, which accelerates in 8 seconds from zero to 100 km/h, has an acceleration of about 3.5 m/s².

Mathematically speaking, acceleration is the derivative of speed over time. That is, it shows the slope of the speed graph on the time axis. If the speed is constant, then the acceleration is zero; if the speed increases, then the acceleration is positive; if the speed decreases, then the acceleration is negative. The higher the acceleration value, the greater the increase.
The two usual units for acceleration are meters per second per second, m/s², and the acceleration due to gravity, g. We have a direct reference to the latter; with this value we are pulled towards the center of the earth and this is how strong the acceleration is when falling downwards, as long as air resistance does not play a role.
An acceleration generally reaches certain physical limits very quickly, which make further constant acceleration difficult or impossible. These can be factors such as friction and air resistance. Therefore, constant acceleration is often only possible with low values ​​or over a short period of time.