SUVAT equations

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The SUVAT equations are five basic equations used to describe motion of a classical system under constant acceleration. They are named SUVAT equations after the five variables that they contain.

[edit] Variables

There are five variables used in the SUVAT equations. Each of the five equations uses all but one of these variables. The variables and their dimensions are given below.

$\mathbf{s}$ Displacement. Units of $m$ (meters, i.e distance from start).
$\mathbf{u}$ Initial velocity. Units of $m s - 1$ (meters per second, i.e speed and direction).
$\mathbf{v}$ Final velocity. Units of $m s - 1$ (meters per second, i.e speed and direction).
$\mathbf{a}$ Acceleration. Units of $m s - 2$ (meters per second squared, i.e rate of change of speed, and direction).
$t$ Time. Units of $s$ (seconds, i.e an amount of time).

Note that all variables besides time are vectors, as they have a direction as well as magnitude.

[edit] Equations

The individual SUVAT equations are listed below. It is important to remember that these equations only work in situations involving constant acceleration. For non-constant acceleration, calculus must be used.

$\mathbf{v} = \mathbf{u} + \mathbf{a}t \,$