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OPERATIONAL DEFINITION OFFORCEAn operational definition is ademonstration of a process – such as avariable,term, orobject– in terms of  the specific process or set of validationtestsused to determine its presenceand quantity. The term was coined byPercy Williams Bridgman(seeOperationalization). Propertiesdescribed in this manner must besufficiently accessible, so that personsother than the definer mayindependently measure or test forthem at will.
[citation needed]
An operationaldefinition is generally designed tomodel aconceptual definition. Themost operational definition is a processforidentificationof an object bydistinguishing it from itsbackgroundof empirical experience. The binaryversion produces either the result thatthe object exists, or that it doesn't, inthe experiential field to which it isapplied. Theclassifierversion resultsin discrimination between what is partof the object and what is not part of it. This is also discussed in terms of semantics,pattern recognition, and operational techniques, such asregression.For example, the weight of anobject may be operationally defined interms of the specific steps of puttingan object on aweighing scale. Theweight is whatever results fromfollowing the measurement procedure,which can in principle be repeated byanyone. It is intentionally not definedin terms of some intrinsic or privateessence. The operational definition of weight is just the result of whathappens when the defined procedureis followed. In other words, what'sbeing defined is how to measureweight for any arbitrary object, andonly incidentally the weight of a givenobject.Operationalize means to putinto operation. Operational definitionsare also used to define system statesin terms of a specific, publiclyaccessible process of preparation orvalidation testing, which is repeatableat will. For example, 100 degreesCelsius may be crudely defined bydescribing the process of heatingwater until it is observed to boil. Anitem like a brick, or even a photographof a brick, may be defined in terms of how it can be made. Likewise, ironmay be defined in terms of the resultsof testing or measuring it in particularways.One simple, every dayillustration of an operational definitionis defining a cake in terms of how it isprepared and baked (i.e., its recipe isan operational definition). Similarly,the saying, if it walks like a duck andquacks like a duck, it must be somekind of duck, may be regarded asinvolving a sort of measurementprocess or set of testsACCELERATION"Accelerate" redirects here. Forother uses, seeAccelerate(disambiguation).
For the waltz composed by Johann Strauss, see Accelerationen.
Acceleration is the rate of change of velocity. At any point on atrajectory, the magnitude of theacceleration is given by the rate of change of velocity in both magnitudeand direction at that point. The trueacceleration at time
t 
is found in thelimit as time interval
 Δt 
→ 0.
 
Components of acceleration fora planar curved motion. The tangentialcomponent
a
t 
is due to the change inspeed of traversal, and points alongthe curve in the direction of thevelocity vector. The centripetalcomponent
a
c
is due to the change indirection of the velocity vector and isnormal to the trajectory, pointingtoward the center of curvature of thepath.Inphysics, and morespecificallykinematics,
acceleration
is the change invelocityover time.
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Because velocity is avector, it canchange in two ways: a change inmagnitude and/or a change indirection. In one dimension, i.e. a line,acceleration is therateat whichsomething speeds up or slows down.However, as avectorquantity,acceleration is also the rate at whichdirection changes.
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Acceleration hasthedimensions LT
−2
. InSIunits,acceleration is measured inmetres persecond squared(m/s
2
).In common speech, the term
acceleration
commonly is used for anincrease in speed (themagnitudeof velocity); a decrease in speed is called
deceleration
. In physics, a change inthe direction of velocity also is anacceleration: for rotary motion, thechange in direction of velocity resultsin
centripetal (toward the center)acceleration
; where as the rate of change of speed is a
tangentialacceleration
.Inclassical mechanics,for abody with constant mass, theacceleration of the body is proportionalto the resultant (total)forceacting onit (Newton's second law):where
F
is the resultant forceacting on the body,
m
is themassof the body, and
a
is its acceleration.
[edit] Average andinstantaneous acceleration
Average acceleration is thechange in velocity (
 Δ
v 
) divided by thechange in time (
 Δt 
). Instantaneousacceleration is the acceleration at aspecific point in time.
[edit] Tangential andcentripetal acceleration
See also:Local coordinates The velocity of a particlemoving on a curved path as afunction of time can be written as:with
v 
(
t 
) equal to the speed of travel along the path, andaunit vector tangentto thepath pointing in the direction of motionat the chosen moment in time. Takinginto account both the changing speed
v(t)
and the changing direction of 
u
t
,the acceleration of a particle movingon a curved path on a planar surfacecan be written using thechain ruleof differentiation as:where
u
n
is the unit (outward)normal vectorto the particle'strajectory, and
R
is its instantaneousradius of curvaturebased upon theosculating circleat time
t 
. Thesecomponents are called the
tangentialacceleration
and the
radialacceleration
, respectively. Thenegative of the radial acceleration isthe
centripetal acceleration
, whichpoints inward, toward thecenter of curvature.Extension of this approach tothree-dimensional space curves that
 
cannot be contained on a planarsurface leads to theFrenet-Serret formulas.
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[edit] Relation to relativity
After completing his theory of special relativity,Albert Einstein  realized that forces felt by objectsundergoing constantproperaccelerationare actually feelingthemselves being accelerated, so that,for example, a car's accelerationforwards would result in the driverfeeling a slight push backwards. In thecase of gravity, which Einsteinconcluded is not actually a force, thisis not the case; acceleration due togravity is not felt by an object infree-fall.This was the basis for hisdevelopment of general relativity, arelativistic theory of gravity.UNITS OF MASS ANDACCELERATIONFor other uses, seeMass(disambiguation).Inphysics,
mass
(fromAncientGreek: μᾶζα) commonly refers to anyof three properties of matter, whichhave been shown experimentally to beequivalent: inertial mass, activegravitational mass and passivegravitational mass. In everyday usage,
mass
is often taken to mean
weight 
,but care should be taken to distinguishbetween the two terms in scientificuse, as they actually refer to differentproperties. The inertial mass of an objectdetermines itsaccelerationin thepresence of an applied force.According toIsaac Newton's second law of motion, if a body of mass
m
issubjected to a force
F
, its acceleration
a
is given by
F
/
m
.A body's mass also determinesthe degree to which it generates or isaffected by agravitational field.If afirst body of mass
m
1
is placed at adistance
r 
from a second body of mass
m
2
, the first body experiences anattractive force
F 
given bywhere
G
is theuniversalconstant of gravitation, equal to6.67×10
−11
kg
−1
m
3
s
−2
. This issometimes referred to as gravitationalmass (when a distinction is necessary,
M
is used to denote the activegravitational mass and
m
the passivegravitational mass). Repeatedexperiments since the seventeenthcentury have demonstrated thatinertial and gravitational mass areequivalent; this is entailed in theequivalence principleof generalrelativity.Special relativityprovides arelationship between the mass of abody and itsenergy(
E
=
mc
2
 
). As aconsequence of this relationship, thetotal mass of a collection of particlesmay be greater or less than the sum of the masses of the individual particles.On the surface of the Earth, theweight
W 
of an object is related to itsmass
m
bywhere
g
is theacceleration dueto the Earth's gravity, equal to 9.81 ms
−2
. An object's weight depends on itsenvironment, while its mass does not:an object with a mass of 50kilograms weighs 491newtonson the surface of the Earth; on the surface of theMoon,the same object still has a mass of 50 kilograms but weighs only81.5 newtons.An object with mass is said tobe
massive
.
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