Resumen de The direction of acceleration

Thomas Wilhelm, Jan-Philipp Burde, Stephan Lück

• Acceleration is a physical quantity that is difficult to understand and hence its complexity is often erroneously simplified. Many students think of acceleration as equivalent to velocity, a ∼ v. For others, acceleration is a scalar quantity, which describes the change in speed Δ|v| or Δ|v|/Δt (as opposed to the change in velocity). The main difficulty with the concept of acceleration therefore lies in developing a correct understanding of its direction. The free iOS app AccelVisu supports students in acquiring a correct conception of acceleration by showing acceleration arrows directly at moving objects.