Originally Posted By: paul
if 1N can imediately accelerate a 1kg mass to 1m/s/s

then why does the mass not move 1 meter in that 1 second?


Wow, this is a record breaking low for you. Did you really think about that? You actually have no idea what the general concept of acceleration is. You're confusing even the magnitude of acceleration with speed.

The answer to your question is that it takes 1s for the object's speed to reach 1m/s. So during most of that 1s, the velocity was < 1m/s, so it couldn't travel a full 1m in that time.

1m/s/s acceleration of an object starting at 0m/s velocity means:
time = 0s, v=0m/s, a=1m/s/s
time = 0.5s, v=0.5m/s, a=1m/s/s
time = 1s, v=1m/s, a=1m/s/s
time = 2s, v=2m/s, a=1m/s/s
time = 3s, v=3m/s, a=1m/s/s
etc..

0.8m/s/s acceleration of an object starting at 0m/s velocity means:
time = 0s, v=0m/s, a=0.8m/s/s
time = 0.5s, v=0.4m/s, a=0.8m/s/s
time = 1s, v=0.8m/s, a=0.8m/s/s
time = 2s, v=1.6m/s, a=0.8m/s/s
time = 3s, v=2.4m/s, a=0.8m/s/s
etc..