Can falling object increase in speed and decrease in acceleration?

Answer 1

Falling object acceleration is due to gravity, and is therefore a constant.

However, because there is a magnitude to this acceleration, the falling object will continue to increase in speed until it reaches its terminal velocity.

We can also observe this quantitatively.

Imagine that we have an object falling from a cliff.

At initial, the velocity is 0, acceleration is -10 m/s^2(rounded for simplicity).

After one second, we can calculate the velocity.

V= V(o) + a(t)

V = 0 +(-10)(1)

-10 m/s. The speed is just the magnitude of the velocity, or + 10 m/s.

To prove that it will increase even more in speed (even though it already from from 0 m/s speed to 10 m/s speed with negative acceleration), here's another example to further the point which expands on the problem already given.

Let's evaluate speed at 2 seconds.

V= V(o) + a(t)

V= 0 + (-10)(2)

V= -20 m/s. so speed = +20 m/s

Hopefully you can see now that while velocity is decreasing, the magnitude of it, speed, is increasing, and that a falling object always has negative acceleration of about -10m/s^2.

Answer 2

A falling object can increase in speed due to gravity pulling it downwards. However, as it accelerates, its rate of acceleration decreases due to air resistance and other factors. Ultimately, the object will reach a terminal velocity where its speed remains constant because the force of gravity is balanced by the force of air resistance.