Speed Time Graphs: Acceleration

You will already have learned about acceleration. Speed-time graphs can also be used to find accelerations:

The purple line shows an acceleration from 0 to 30 m/s in 20 seconds.

The blue line shows an acceleration from 0 to 20 m/s in 20 seconds.
The gradient of the purple line is (30-0) / 20 = 1.5 m/s/s.
The gradient of the blue line is (20-0) / 20 = 1 m/s/s.

However, things can slow down as well as speed up...

Forces & Motion Menu

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