What is the term for the change in velocity over time in physics?

The term for the change in velocity over time in physics is acceleration. Acceleration is defined as the rate at which an object’s velocity changes. This means that if an object is speeding up, slowing down, or changing direction, it is experiencing acceleration. Mathematically, acceleration can be represented as the change in velocity divided by the time interval during which the change occurred.

In the context of motion, understanding acceleration is crucial for analyzing how objects move under various forces. For example, when a car accelerates from a stop to a certain speed, the acceleration describes how quickly the vehicle's velocity increases.

Force, while closely related to acceleration through Newton's second law (F=ma), simply refers to an external influence that can cause an object to change its velocity. Velocity itself refers to the speed of an object in a specific direction and does not encompass time or changes over time. Momentum refers to the quantity of motion an object has, dependent on its mass and velocity; it describes the motion of an object but does not indicate how that motion changes over time.

Thus, the concept of acceleration is critical for understanding not just what speed an object is moving but how that speed evolves during its motion.