Question

Is acceleration a dimensionless number?

Answer 1

@amistre64

Answer 2

what is the definition of acceleration?

Answer 3

or, if you know how the acceleration due to gravity is defined ... is it dimensionless?

Answer 4

if the acceleration is equal to the gravity sin theta, then is it dimensionless?\[a=g \sin \Theta\]

Answer 5

and we know the angle is like 40 degrees...

Answer 6

sin(theta) is dimensionless, gravity is not

Answer 7

well, thank you

Answer 8

a/g = sin(theta) ... the dimensions cancel out to 1 and we are left with sin(theta) as a dimensionless value whose only purpose is to offer some sense of scale to the problem.

Answer 9

at least thats my view of it

Answer 10

Another approach. Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity, i.e.\[a=\frac{ \Delta v }{ \Delta t }\]If you know the dimensions (units) of velocity and time, you can work out the dimension of acceleration.