Calculator Acceleration on a Straight Track

Calculation of acceleration when accelerating to a speed in a straight line of a specified length. A deceleration is a negative acceleration, this can also be calculated. Please enter two values to get the third value. In addition, the duration for the acceleration or deceleration process is calculated in seconds. Metric units or miles and miles per hour can be selected.
The formulas are:
acceleration = velocity² / (2*distance)
duration = √ 2*distance / velocity

Velocity:		km/hm/smphkn
Distance:		cmmkmmile
Scceleration:		m/s²g
Dauer:		s

Round to 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 decimal places.

Example 1: if you accelerate from 0 to 100 km/h over a distance of 100 meters, the acceleration is 0.4 g and takes 7.2 seconds.

Example 2: if you drive against a wall at 40 km/h and the crumple zone of the car is depressed by 50 centimetres, the braking effect is 12.6 g. The process takes less than a tenth of a second.

The velocity always refers to the maximum speed during acceleration. The minimum speed is zero. In the two examples, it is an acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h and a deceleration from 40 km/h to 0. The acceleration is, of course, an average value; it can certainly change during the acceleration process and usually does so in practice. In general, the longer the distance or period of time, the more acceleration changes occur. High acceleration or deceleration cannot be sustained for long.

More common than calculating acceleration from distance is calculating acceleration with a time specification. However, there are also applications for calculating acceleration from distance. In the second example with the accident, measuring a time would be very difficult, but the distance can be easily calculated from the length the car should have minus the length of the wreckage after the collision with the wall.

Last updated on 09/06/2025. Author: Jürgen Kummer


German: g-Beschleunigung