Which of the following describes acceleration? a change in position over a period of time a force applied over a displacement a change in velocity over a period of time a force applied for a period of time

the third option, a change in velocity over a period of time.

Justification:

The concept of acceleration always is related to a change in velocity.

That change may be either on speed or on direction or both.

The mathematical definition of acceleration is:

                          change in velocity          final velocity - initial velocity
acceleration = =
                            interval of time                           Δt

We can go through the list of choices to check their validigy:

- a change in position over a period of time: this is velocity definition

- a force applied over a displacement : this is not a defined magnitude

- a change in velocity over a period of time: this is exactly what acceleration means.

- a force applied for a period of time: this is is not a defined magnitude.