Beginning Math and Physics for Game Programmers

Acceleration

In the preceding section, we discussed constant velocity as well as changing velocity. Any time an object's velocity changes, it experiences an acceleration; it speeds up or slows down. Acceleration simply measures the velocity's rate of change. The faster an object speeds up, the higher the acceleration. If the velocity is constant and doesn't change at all, the acceleration must be 0. Let's go back to the car example. The only way to avoid accelerating is to turn on the cruise control. Any time you step on the gas pedal, the car speeds up or accelerates. As soon as you release the gas pedal, the car starts to slow down or decelerate (negative acceleration). If you hit the brakes, you get an even larger deceleration. Let's use the ...