What do i call this?

[Souper]

1 meter is space.

1 m/s is speed.

1 m/s2 is acceleration.

Then what is 1m/s3? Your acceleration accelerates.

And is 1m/s4 a thing?

[Gaarst]

Taking derivatives and so on, you can go to infinite "values".

Recall that velocity/acceleration is a variation of position/velocity respectively.
A value in m.s^-3 would then be a variation of acceleration, it is called "jerk". Most case studied in school assume constant acceleration so this value is almost never used except in specific engineering contexts, among which stands rocket science: constant fuel consumption rate implies constant jerk, the two can be easily related in basic contexts.

FYI, the following derivatives are called:

• Jounce or snap (m.s^-4)
• Crackle (m.s^-5)
• Pop (m.s^-6)

Edited December 25, 2015 by Gaarst

[Alias72]

All of these are "things" in a mathematical sense. ok simple calculus.

we have a function F that describes position in space. If we take the derivative (the change in) that function with respect to time we get:

d(meters)/d(time) = m/s = velocity

if we derive that with respect to time we get d(meters)/d(time(time)) = m/s^2 = acceleration.

we can keep doing this forever though depending on the function the result loses all significance (for polynomials the answer becomes 0)

as for names m/s^3 is jerk(or jolt or surge or lurch) and I don't think there are any more English names beyond that.

[Rakaydos]

30 minutes ago, Souper said:

1 meter is space.

1 m/s is speed.

1 m/s2 is acceleration.

Then what is 1m/s3? Your acceleration accelerates.

And is 1m/s4 a thing?

I'm pretty sure "Jerk" is the term for how suddenly you can accelerate. (1m/s^3)

[cantab]

Yeah, rate of change of acceleration is known as jerk. It's actually very important when considering human transportation, since too much jerk means our muscles cannot respond quickly enough and injury can be caused. Lateral jerk is also relevant to railways, and the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Track_transition_curve

is designed to control it.

[problemecium]

Heh, snap, crackle, and pop. Color me amused xD