What Are the Types of Acceleration?

By Staff WriterLast Updated April 02, 2020

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There are three types of acceleration in general: absolute acceleration, negative acceleration and acceleration due to change in direction. Acceleration is defined as the rate of change of velocity.

Acceleration can be also categorized depending on whether the motion of the object is linear or angular. For objects with a linear motion, acceleration can be divided into two types: average and instantaneous. For objects with angular motion, it can be divided into three types: centripetal, tangential and angular acceleration. Since acceleration depends on velocity, which has both magnitude and direction, the acceleration of an object can change depending on a change of magnitude, a change in direction or change in both direction and magnitude.