It is a known fact that acceleration is the change in velocity over time, but do you know how to calculate the magnitude of acceleration? The magnitude of the product of mass and acceleration is called force. And the process of finding out this force can be challenging. To help with this, we have created a simple calculator which will give you the desired results in the blink of an eye!

## What is the magnitude of acceleration?

To understand what is the magnitude of acceleration, you must first be aware of what acceleration is.

Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes. In other words, it’s the change in velocity per unit of time. This means that if you were able to measure how fast something was moving and then measure its speed again later, but only after some time had passed, then you would know what its acceleration was during that period based on how much it changed during that time period—which is easy enough to do since as long as both measurements are done at some point in space where there aren’t any other forces acting upon them (like gravitational fields), everything moves at the same speed relative to each other so changing your measuring tool isn’t going to affect anything!

## What does acceleration mean?

If a car accelerates from 0 to 60 m/s in 10 seconds, that means its velocity has changed by 60 m/s in 10 seconds. The acceleration is therefore 6.0 m/s2.

Acceleration is a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and direction. It points in the same direction as the change in velocity; if your velocity goes up, so does your acceleration; if your velocity goes down, so does your acceleration.

## How to find the magnitude of acceleration

When talking about the magnitude of acceleration, there are a few different ways we can calculate it, depending on our data. Here, we will briefly go over some of these methods.

## How to find the magnitude of acceleration using mass and force

The first method we are going to go over is based on Newton’s first law of motion, which states that an object will remain at rest or at uniform motion unless an external force acts upon it. So, if an external force acts upon the object (such as gravity during a free fall), the object will change velocity – accelerate. This is described with the formula:

F = m \times a

The formula that we’re looking for can be taken from this one, which is:

a = \frac {F}{m}

## How to find the magnitude of acceleration using acceleration components

In this method, we have multiple acceleration components. Essentially, we are looking for an average. So, the formula would be:

a = \sqrt {a^2_1 + a^2_2 + a^2_3}

## How to find the magnitude of acceleration using the velocity difference

This method is based on the definition of acceleration, which is the change of velocity in a given time period. Mathematically, it would look like this:

a = \frac {\Delta v}{t}

For example, let’s say a body was moving with a velocity of 5 m/s per second. After 5 seconds, its velocity is 15 m/s. Assuming it had uniform acceleration, we can calculate that:

a = \frac {15 \frac {m}{s} - 5 \frac {m}{s}}{5s} = \frac {10 \frac {m}{s}}{5} = 2 \frac {m}{s^2}

## How to use the magnitude of acceleration calculator?

With our magnitude of acceleration calculator, you can use any of the three methods we mentioned before. Depending on the data you have, you can pick any of the three modes in the calculator, and find the magnitude of acceleration.

## FAQ

What is acceleration?

Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes. In other words, it’s the change in velocity per unit of time.

The magnitude of acceleration formula

There are multiple formulas that you can use for calculating the magnitude of acceleration. You can find some in the post above.

What is Newton’s first law?

An object at rest remains at rest, and an object in motion remains in motion at a constant speed and in a straight line unless acted on by an unbalanced force.