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How does positive and negative acceleration relate to speeding up and slowing down?

In this tutorial you will see how a positive acceleration might mean an object is speeding up, slowing down, or maintaining a constant speed. The goal is to make sure that you don't assume that positive acceleration means you speed up. That rule of thumb is simply not true!

Summary

  1. a with an arrow- acceleration vector
  2. ∆v with an arrow- change in the velocity vector
  3. ∆t- change in time
  4. mph- miles per hour
  5. s- seconds

Notes

    1. In straight line motion, vectors can point either in the plus direction or in the minus direction
    1. Always a good idea to define a positive and negative direction on any diagram that you draw
    1. Sometimes positive acceleration means you are speeding up
    1. Sometimes positive acceleration means you are slowing down
    1. Sometimes negative acceleration means you are speeding up
    1. Sometimes negative acceleration means you are slowing down