Talk:Acceleration

Lead image for acceleration page

Theory. The lead image should draw the reader in and help make the subject appealing.

Lead image on Wikipedia	Lead image on Infogalactic
Acceleration In the absence of air resistance and thus terminal velocity, a falling ball would continue to accelerate. Common symbols a SI unit m/s2, m•s-2, m s-2	Acceleration A machine designed to maximize acceleration at all cost, beginning from a standstill. Common symbols a SI unit m/s2, m·s-2, m s-2

Slippery language, slippery math

This is an endemic problem in physics, with the Acceleration page being merely one example. Speed is conflated with velocity in several places. Notation changes from one section to the next and from one image to the next. Crucial concepts go missing. Rectified (talk) 15:50, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

Relation to relativity

Copied over from WP article. Example of odd, vague, and slippery language. Relativity does not accommodate acceleration. I change "speed of light" to "velocity of light" in this section to emphasize that the direction is crucial to the discussion.

Special relativity

Main article: Special relativity

The special theory of relativity describes the behavior of objects traveling relative to other objects at speeds approaching that of light in a vacuum. Newtonian mechanics is exactly revealed to be an approximation to reality, valid to great accuracy at lower speeds. As the relevant speeds increase toward the speed of light, acceleration no longer follows classical equations.

As speeds approach that of light, the acceleration produced by a given force decreases, becoming infinitesimally small as light speed is approached; an object with mass can approach this speed asymptotically, but never reach it. [emphasis added]

General relativity

Main article: General relativity

Unless the state of motion of an object is known, it is totally impossible to distinguish whether an observed force is due to gravity or to acceleration—gravity and inertial acceleration have identical effects. Albert Einstein called this the principle of equivalence, and said that only observers who feel no force at all—including the force of gravity—are justified in concluding that they are not accelerating. Rectified (talk) 15:50, 10 December 2016 (UTC)

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