good point. i keep forgeting, velocity has a vector in it. in which case, i dont know that its possible to have a scalar meaning for acceleration. by definition its the change of a vector. about the only way i can think of would be to call it the change in speed, and even thats innacurate.
On 6/10/05, Stephen A. Lawrence <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > leaking pen wrote: > > >velocity and speed simply mean the same thing. teh only other term > >ive heard, and it used to be prevelant among test pilots and > >astronauts, was delta v. (as in, the greek character delta, the > >letter v) as that means change in velocity. other than that, no. > > > > > Harry's usage is pretty standard, I think. In physics textbooks and > discussions it's reasonably common to define "speed" as the magnitude of > "velocity", in which case "speed" is a scalar and "velocity" is a > vector. But that usage is also somewhat casual and one typically > defines it before using it that way to avoid confusing the reader. > > It's also common to use "g" for the determinant of the metric tensor, > where the tensor is written as "<bold>g</bold>" (or maybe it's the > square root of the determinant). In that case "g" is a scalar and > "<b>g</b>" is a tensor. > > I can't think of any other examples off hand, though, and I can't think > of a common name for the magnitude of the acceleration. But my > knowledge of the field is pretty specialized (and limited). > > > >On 6/10/05, Harry Veeder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > >>G-force implies a cause. > >>I am wondering if there is a descriptive term. > >> > >>Harry > >> > >> > >>Christopher Arnold wrote: > >> > >>G force > >> > >>Harry Veeder <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >>If the term for the magnitude of a velocity is speed does a special term > >>exist for the magnitude of an acceleration? > >> > >>Harry > >> > >> > >> > > > > > > > > > > -- "Monsieur l'abb�, I detest what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write" Voltaire
