Can Velocity Be Negative When Acceleration Is Positive?

  • Thread starter Thread starter iMAGICIALoTV
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Kinematics
AI Thread Summary
Velocity can indeed be negative while acceleration is positive, as demonstrated by a car rolling backward that accelerates forward upon pressing the gas pedal. In this scenario, the car has a negative velocity until it stops and begins moving forward. Additionally, an object with negative velocity that is slowing down experiences positive acceleration. This concept highlights the distinction between velocity and acceleration, where velocity indicates direction and speed, while acceleration measures the rate of change of velocity. Understanding this relationship is crucial in physics.
iMAGICIALoTV
Messages
11
Reaction score
0
Is it possible for velocity to be negative while the acceleration is positive? If so, then how is it possible?
 
Physics news on Phys.org
If you are rolling backwards in a car and put your foot on the gas pedal, you'll start accelerating forward instantly but until you come to a stop and start moving forward you'll have a negative velocity.
 
Sounds like a homework question...

Any object that has a negative velocity that is slowing down has a positive acceleration.
 
The rope is tied into the person (the load of 200 pounds) and the rope goes up from the person to a fixed pulley and back down to his hands. He hauls the rope to suspend himself in the air. What is the mechanical advantage of the system? The person will indeed only have to lift half of his body weight (roughly 100 pounds) because he now lessened the load by that same amount. This APPEARS to be a 2:1 because he can hold himself with half the force, but my question is: is that mechanical...
Hello everyone, Consider the problem in which a car is told to travel at 30 km/h for L kilometers and then at 60 km/h for another L kilometers. Next, you are asked to determine the average speed. My question is: although we know that the average speed in this case is the harmonic mean of the two speeds, is it also possible to state that the average speed over this 2L-kilometer stretch can be obtained as a weighted average of the two speeds? Best regards, DaTario
Some physics textbook writer told me that Newton's first law applies only on bodies that feel no interactions at all. He said that if a body is on rest or moves in constant velocity, there is no external force acting on it. But I have heard another form of the law that says the net force acting on a body must be zero. This means there is interactions involved after all. So which one is correct?

Similar threads

Back
Top