acceleration
part of speech
noun (acceleration; uncountable; an acceleration — one case)
meaning for a pupil
1) Acceleration is getting faster: the speed going up. tree →
2) (science) Acceleration is how quickly speed (or velocity) changes; slowing down is a negative acceleration (deceleration). tree →
3) Acceleration is how quickly a car can speed up. tree →
4) Acceleration is also any speeding up of a process: the acceleration of climate change. tree →
sense in the lessons
Used in science lessons on forces and motion (Newton's laws, gravity makes falling objects accelerate), cars and sport (sprinters), and in maths (change of speed per second).
examples
- The rocket's acceleration pushed the astronauts into their seats. tree →
- Gravity gives falling objects an acceleration. tree →
- This sports car has amazing acceleration. tree →
- The sprinter's acceleration out of the blocks won the race. tree →
- A bigger force gives a bigger acceleration. tree →
- On the graph, a steeper line shows greater acceleration. tree →
- Scientists worry about the acceleration of ice melting. tree →
note
Verb: «accelerate». Double «c», one «l»: acceleration. In maths and science: acceleration = change in speed ÷ time. A car going from 0 to 20 metres per second in 4 seconds has an acceleration of 5 metres per second every second. Near Earth, falling objects accelerate at about 9.8 m/s². Constant speed means zero acceleration.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «acceleration» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.