Fourth, Fifth, and Sixth Derivatives of Position
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Discussion about higher derivatives of position in physics, with users sharing their understanding and experiences.
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Now I understand jerk as when you get pressed into your seat when starting a car. But how would I notice snap or even crackle?
[1] https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0143-0807/37/6/06...
Snap is how abrupt those changes between accelerations are. If you accelerate a bit, and then suddenly the light turns orange and you floor it, and the turbo kicks in, and your passengers go "woaaaaaah going to need a barf baaaaag" for example, it was probably not very smooth.
Sometimes instead of linear accelerations, those concepts can be easier to understand as changes in angular motions. You're on a curve of a certain radius, and suddenly the radius changes. The change is the jerk. How sudden the change happens is the snap.