Glossary

This glossary gives definitions for technical words used both in Suvat itself and in its documentation. It is arranged in alphabetical order and cross-referenced with links that look like this.

Acceleration

The change in velocity in unit time; how much the velocity changes every second. A vector quantity.

Displacement

The distance away from an origin (where the object was when time = 0). (NOT total distance covered). A vector quantity.

Final velocity

The velocity when at the end of the time period.

Initial velocity

The velocity when time = 0.

Scalar quantity

A quantity (such as time or mass) that is described entirely by a number and does not need a direction. (cf. Vector quantity)

Time

The time (measured in seconds) over which motion is considered (i.e. initial velocity is the velocity when time = 0 and final velocity is the velocity when time = <calculated final value of time>).

Vector quantity

A quantity (such as displacement) that needs both a number and a direction to describe it. (cf. Scalar quantity)

Velocity

The vector equivalent of speed. Defined as displacement divided by time. Its units are metres per second (ms ^-1 )