Please explain meters per cubic second.

Question

It's driving me crazy!

Answer 1

Progress to them through the other speed-related measurements:

m

Let this represents your position relative to some reference.

m/s

This represents how much your position changes per second: velocity, a.k.a. speed.

m/s²

This represents how much your velocity changes per second: acceleration.

m/s³

This represents how much your acceleration changes per second: meters per second cubed.

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m/s would be how far your car travels in a second

m/s² would be how much your car is accelerating (for example, if you have the gas pedal or held down completely, or the brake pedal for negative acceleration).

m/s³ would be how much your acceleration changes, which you could think of as how quickly your foot is moving on the accelerator or brake.

If you push down on the acceleration pedal very slowly, your m/s³ would go up slower than if you pushed it down at a moderate speed (or go down for the brake).

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What you can feel:

If you are traveling at a constant speed, you won't feel anything, as your body only feels acceleration.

If you are accelerating, you can feel your velocity changing. You'll be pushed back against a chair, or you'll feel yourself pushed forward as you put on the brakes.

If your acceleration is changing (meters per second cubed), then you will feel the amount of acceleration changing. Rather than progressively speeding up, you push the gas down rapidly and you feel a small tug turn into a strong force pushing you back into your seat.

If you're braking and suddenly have to slam the pedal down to stop suddenly, instead of a slow stop that gently pushes you forward, you feel a change that instead pushes you hard into your belt. The fact that you can feel the difference there happening means you can experience and understand meters per second cubed.

Answer 2

You probably mean meter per second cubed. This is what engineers call "jerk" and it's what you feel when you are standing in a bus and it is accelerating unevenly. Jerk is non-zero when acceleration is not constant.