SUVAT Kinematics Calculator: Solve Any Motion Problem

You're solving a problem: a car traveling at 30 m/s brakes with a deceleration of 5 m/s². How far does it travel before stopping? You know you need one of the five SUVAT equations, but which one? You have u, v (which is 0), and a. You want s. So you need v² = u² + 2as. Rearrange, plug in, get s = 90 m.

That's straightforward when you're practiced. When you're learning, choosing the right equation is half the battle.

Three knowns, two unknowns

The kinematics calculator has five input fields — displacement (s), initial velocity (u), final velocity (v), acceleration (a), and time (t). Enter any three and it calculates the remaining two. It also tells you which SUVAT equation it used, so you can learn the selection logic as you go.

For the braking car: enter u = 30, v = 0, a = −5. The tool returns s = 90 m and t = 6 s. It used both v = u + at (for time) and v² = u² + 2as (for displacement). You can verify those by hand and check that they match.

Built-in examples

The tool comes with quick-load examples — free fall, a sprinter accelerating, a car braking. These are good starting points if you want to see how different combinations of knowns lead to different equations being selected.

The examples also help with sign conventions. Deceleration means negative acceleration. An object thrown upward has positive initial velocity but negative acceleration due to gravity. Getting the signs right is one of the most common mistakes in kinematics, and seeing correct worked examples helps.

If your problem involves 2D motion (a projectile launched at an angle), the projectile motion simulator handles that case. The kinematics calculator is specifically for straight-line, constant-acceleration problems — which is exactly the SUVAT scope.