s tart speed (km/h)
Note that force, work and power are calculated for mass acceleration only. Forces due to air resistance ( drag ) and rolling friction are not included.
Download and Print Car Acceleration Chart
Download and Print Car Acceleration Chart
If you know the distance moved and the time used - the acceleration can be calculated as
a = 2 ds / dt 2 (2)
where
ds = distance moved (m, ft)
The acceleration force can be calculated as
F = m a (3)
where
F = acceleration force (N, lb f )
m = mass of car (kg, slugs)
The acceleration work can be calculated as
W = F l (4)
where
W = work done (Nm, J, ft lb f )
l = distance moved (m, ft)
The acceleration power can be calculated as
P = W / dt (5)
where
P = power (J/s, W, ft lb f /s)
A car with mass 1000 kg (2205 lb m ) accelerates from 0 m/s (0 ft/s) to 27.8 m/s (100 km/h, 91.1 ft/s, 62.1 mph) in 10 s .
The acceleration can be calculated from eq. 1 as
a = ((27.8 m/s) - (0 m/s)) / (10 s)
= 2.78 m/s 2
The acceleration force can be calculated from eq. 3 as
F = (1000 kg) (2.78 m/s 2 )
= 2780 N
The distance moved can be calculated by rearranging eq. 2 to
ds = a dt 2 / 2
= (2.78 m/s 2 ) (10 s) 2 / 2
= 139 m
The acceleration work can be calculated from eq. 4 as
W = (2780 N) (139 m)
= 386420 J
The acceleration power can be calculated from eq. 5 as
P = (386420 J) / (10 s)
= 38642 W
= 38.6 kW
The calculation can also be done in Imperial units :
The acceleration can be calculated from eq. 1 as
a = ((91.1 ft/s) - (0 ft/s)) / (10 s)
= 9.11 ft/s 2
In the Imperial system mass is measured in slugs where 1 slug = 32.17405 lb m
The acceleration force can be calculated from eq. 3 as
F = (( 2205 lb m ) (1/32.17405 (slugs/ lb m )) ) (9.11 ft/s 2 )
= 624 lb f
The distance moved can be calculated by rearranging eq. 2 to
ds = a dt 2 / 2
= (9.11 ft/s 2 ) (10 s) 2 / 2
= 455 ft
The acceleration work can be calculated from eq. 4 as
W = (624 lb f ) (455 ft)
= 284075 ft lb f
The acceleration power can be calculated from eq. 5 as
P = (284075 ft lb f ) / (10 s)
= 28407 ft lb f /s
Motion - velocity and acceleration, forces and torque.
Forces, acceleration, displacement, vectors, motion, momentum, energy of objects and more.
Change in velocity vs. time used.
Acceleration of gravity and Newton's Second Law - SI and Imperial units.
Converting between units of acceleration.
Useful equations related to acceleration, average velocity, final velocity and distance traveled.
Power, torque, efficiency and wheel force acting on a car.
Adhesion and tractive force between car wheel and surface.
Calculate fuel consumption in liter per km - consumption chart and calculator.
Calculate and compare the costs between owning a new vs. an old car.
Forces due to circular motion and centripetal / centrifugal acceleration.
Forces and torque activated with disk brakes.
Driving distance between some major European cities.
EV Charging - AC vs. DC, single phase vs. three phase and power vs. voltage and amps.
Linear and angular (rotation) acceleration, velocity, speed and distance.
Calculate fuel consumption in miles per gallon - mpg - calculator and consumption charts.
Impact forces acting on falling objects hitting the ground, cars crashing and similar cases.
Energy possessed by an object's motion is kinetic energy.
Cylinder volume and compression ratios in piston engines.
Calculate piston engine displacement.
Rolling friction and rolling resistance.
A toggle joint mechanism can be used to multiply force.
Speed (mph) and time (hours) and distance traveled (miles) chart.
Speed (km/h) vs. time (hours) and distance traveled (km).
Traffic flow and density as used in highway design.
Add standard and customized parametric components - like flange beams, lumbers, piping, stairs and more - to your Sketchup model with the Engineering ToolBox - SketchUp Extension - enabled for use with the amazing, fun and free SketchUp Make and SketchUp Pro . Add the Engineering ToolBox extension to your SketchUp from the Sketchup Extension Warehouse!
We don't collect information from our users. Only emails and answers are saved in our archive. Cookies are only used in the browser to improve user experience.
Some of our calculators and applications let you save application data to your local computer. These applications will - due to browser restrictions - send data between your browser and our server. We don't save this data.
Google use cookies for serving our ads and handling visitor statistics. Please read Google Privacy & Terms for more information about how you can control adserving and the information collected.
AddThis use cookies for handling links to social media. Please read AddThis Privacy for more information.
If you want to promote your products or services in the Engineering ToolBox - please use Google Adwords. You can target the Engineering ToolBox by using AdWords Managed Placements.