Acceleration is the rate of change in speed over time, and is measured in meters/second/s (often shortened to m/2^2). The formula for this is change in speed / time. For example, a car might have an acceleration of 5 m/s^2. This would mean that the car's speed would be incre7asing by 5 meters per second every second. So, say it started at 0 m/s, after five seconds, it would be going 25 m/s. If something has a negative acceleration (like -3 m/s^2), that means that it's actually slowing down. So, a car that was going 10 m/s would slow to a stop in 5 seconds, if it had an acceleration of -2 m/s^2.
Acceleration In Video Games
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you have an item called the longshot. This is more or less a grappling hook which, upon getting hooked onto something, will pull Link (the player character) over to it. If you look into the logic behind the item, it actually doesn't make much sense at all. In order to spare some of the quite long and boring details, the following is all that you really need to know in order to figure out why the longshot wouldn't work. It manages to pull Link, a ~140 lb elf boy, 20 meters in one second. It only actually accelerates for about .1 of a second, putting his acceleration at 200 m/s^2. When you plug in some other numbers, you can find out that the longshot generates 17200 Newtons of force, which would be enough to break all the bones in his hand, as well as his arm, and dislocate his shoulder. When you are accelerated that fast, while the majority of you might be alright, all of your internal organs would be put under 20Gs of force (20 times the gravity of earth). Long story short, the acceleration alone would cause multiple broken bones, blindness, and damaged vertebrae, on top of the damage Link already suffered just from the force of firing the thing (which is a whole different conversation).
And yet, in game, you still can go on to fight Ganondorf another day.
And yet, in game, you still can go on to fight Ganondorf another day.
Related Questions
1. If Link needs to travel over a 20 meter ditch, and it takes him three seconds to get over it, what was his acceleration?
6.6 m/s^2
2. If Link's acceleration was 20 m/s^2, and his final speed was 52 m/s (keeping in mind that he started at 0 m/s), how long does it take him to travel over the ditch?
2.6 seconds
6.6 m/s^2
2. If Link's acceleration was 20 m/s^2, and his final speed was 52 m/s (keeping in mind that he started at 0 m/s), how long does it take him to travel over the ditch?
2.6 seconds