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Can an object's velocity change direction when its acceleration is constant?
Wiki User
∙ 16y ago
No. Acceleration is a change of velocity and doesn't have to point in the same direction. Consider braking car: it still moves with decreasing velocity in one direction, while braking force and thus acceleration is in the opposing direction.
Wiki User
∙ 15y ago
Wiki User
∙ 16y agoAn object can indeed change velocity when its acceleration is constant as long as its acceleration is not zero. (If an object is not accelerated, its velocity cannot change.) Recall that velocity is speed plus a direction vector. A rock is falling under the force of gravity from a mile up. Its acceleration is constant. The force of gravity is not increasing or decreasing is it? No, it is not. (That's why we call it a gravitational constant.) So the rock is operating under constant acceleration (of one earth gravity, or 1 g) and its velocity is increasing. At some point in its fall, at some exact moment in time, our rock had an instantaneous velocity of 20 meters per second down. (Down is the direction vector.)
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoNo, acceleration is defined as a change in velocity. If the magnitude of the velocity of an object is zero, when changed, the velocity must be higher or lower. You can't really have negative speeds, so if an object is accelerating and started at 0 m/s, it will be speeding up.
Consider the earth orbiting the sun. It has a constant acceleration of v2/r. But if you take the sun as the centre of your co-ordinate system and take an average over a long period of time then the Earth has an average velocity of 0.
Wiki User
∙ 13y agoIf you accelerate an object in one direction the velocity is in the same direction; however if it alraedy had an itial velocity that may not be true.
V = vo + at
For example if moving with initial velocity to the East and accelerated to the west, it will slow down but still move east for a time
Wiki User
∙ 12y agoOf course. That's exactly what's going on when a car driving east
slows down for a stop sign or an intersection.
Westward acceleration means either westward velocity is increasing
or eastward velocity is decreasing.
Wiki User
∙ 9y agoYes. Consider driving around a circular arc. The direction of motion is along the tangent to the arc (at that point) whereas the acceleration is towards the centre of the circle of that arc. The two directions are mutually perpendicular.
Or consider throwing a ball upward. Its velocity (at least initially), is vertically upwards. But the acceleration (due to gravity) is vertically downwards - in exactly the opposite direction.
Wiki User
∙ 11y agoyes
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What do you call it when an objects velocity changes?
A change in an objects velocity is called acceleration. Velocity is defined as an objects speed of travel AND its direction of travel. Acceleration can change only an objects speed, only its direction or both. If there is no acceleration acting on the object, then the velocity remains constant.
A cyclist goes around a level circular track at constant speed. Is the cyclist's acceleration zero because her speed is constant?
No. The cyclist is moving at a constant speed, but her velocity is changing. Remember that velocity is speed with a direction vector associated with it. As speed is constant, only direction is changing. But a change in direction is a change in velocity (even if speed is constant), and this requires acceleration in that direction to accomplish the change in direction. You're on the right track, but just recall that acceleration is tied to velocity and not just speed. And note that velocity can change all the time without speed changing. Acceleration must cause the change in velocity. Consider that objects in orbit around the earth move at a pretty constant speed, but accelerate toward the earth all the time. Their speed coupled with their acceleration toward earth cause them to move in an arc - which is their orbital path.
What are two ways in which an object can have constant velocity uniform motion?
Objects moving in uniform circular motion will have a constant speed, and two objects with the same acceleration have a constant velocity.
When velocity is positive and acceleration is zero what happens to an objects motion?
When acceleration is zero, then the object is moving in a straight line with constant speed. (That's the effective meaning of constant velocity.)
What would happen to an object in free fall?
The velocity in the x direction would be constant because gravity only affects the vertical components of objects. The velocity in the y direction would increase due to the constant acceleration due to gravity. The acceleration due to gravity on Earth is always -9.81 m/s^2.
When you know both the speed and direction of an objects of an objects motion you know the?
I'm pretty sure its the acceleration. If its not that, its the Velocity.
Both speed and acceleration include the direction of an objects motion true or false?
This is not true. Acceleration includes direction, but speed does not. Speed in a particular direction is called velocity.
Acceleration is a change in speed or?
Acceleration is the change in an ogjects speed or a change in an objects direction of motion or both of these. If instead of speed you use the word velocity , which is both an object's speed and its direction of motion, then you could say "acceleration is the change in an objects velocity" and that would cover all the possibilities in one statement.
How are the direction of the an objects acceleration and direction of the same object change in velocity related?
if the force isnt inline , resolve into axial and lateral forces, the original force bieng the hypotonuse
What happens to an objects accelertion if the force on it increases and the mass remains constant?
The acceleration increases in the direction of the force.
Is it possible for an objects velocity to be perpendicular to the objects acceleration?
no
What happens to an objects speed if it travels with zero acceleration?
That means, of course, that the velocity (and the speed) doesn't change.
