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The rate of change of acceleration

... is interestingly called jolt.

To read more: http://math.ucr.edu/home/baez/physics/General/jerk.html

Does anyone know a practical use of jolt?

Can you actually feel the jolt? I mean you can reasonably feel acceleration as F=ma, but the rate of change of acceleration - that's just beyond me! :confused:

Reply 1

Morbo

You experience the rate of change of acceleration all the time when you're in a car or aeroplane, for example. When you're in a plane stopped on the runway ready to take off, you feel no force from the seat pushing into your back. However, as soon as the pilot whacks the throttle up to max, the force on your back goes from zero up to some value. During the time when this force is increasing, you are experiencing a rate of change of acceleration. I can see why it might be called "jolt" :smile:

EDIT: Interestingly, that article says about reducing jolt in a train for passenger comfort. Think of standing up on the tube when it's stopped in the station. If the train pulls away too quickly, you would go flying backwards because you wouldn't have enough time to react by increasing your grip on the handrail.

Reply 2

jpowell

Interesting, I never knew it had a name. I can't honestly say I've ever had to use that unit in any physics course I've taken, so I guess it isn't used much. Maybe engineers will know some more about what levels of jolt are acceptable, and how it is measured.