The rate at which the velocity changes, is called the acceleration. Suppose we know the values of the instantaneous velocity of the luge at two times: at the beginning and at the end of a particular time interval. The difference between these two values -- the final value minus the initial value -- is the change in velocity. The change in velocity divided by the size of the time interval itself is the average acceleration for the interval. It is measured in meters per second per second, or:
As in the case of velocity, we can talk about instantaneous acceleration provided the time interval we use is sufficiently small -- actually in the limit as this time interval goes to zero.
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A slider steers with their feet
and by shifting their body weight on the luge
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Calculate the accelerations and record them in the table under Acceleration (7).
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© April, 1998, Montana State University-Bozeman
