Acceleration Converter
Convert acceleration between m/s², ft/s², g-force (9.80665 m/s²), and Gal (cm/s²).
Used in vehicle testing, seismology, and aerospace g-load calculations.
Type in any field — the others update instantly.
Acceleration is the rate at which velocity changes, measured in meters per second squared (m/s²) in SI. Speed up by 5 m/s every second and you’re accelerating at 5 m/s². The unit most people actually feel is the g, standard Earth gravity, which is why it gets used for everything from sports cars to roller coasters.
Key conversions:
- 1 g = 9.80665 m/s² (standard gravity, exact)
- 1 ft/s² = 0.3048 m/s² (exact)
- 1 Gal = 0.01 m/s² (used in geophysics)
For a sense of scale:
- Free fall on Earth: 1 g
- The Moon’s surface gravity: 0.1654 g (1.622 m/s²)
- A hard-braking car: about 1 g
- A fighter jet in a tight turn: up to 9 g
The Gal, named after Galileo, is a tiny unit geophysicists use to map small variations in gravity from place to place. You won’t run into it anywhere else.
Worth being clear on one thing: a g-force isn’t actually a force, it’s an acceleration. The push you feel in a fast turn is your own body resisting that acceleration. And duration matters as much as the peak. A pilot can take 9 g for a moment but would black out if it held, because blood drains from the brain. A number without a time attached only tells half the story.
How we build and check this converter
This converter runs entirely in your browser, so the numbers you enter stay on your device. The math behind it is written by hand and tested against worked examples and standard references before the page goes live.
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