The Student Room Group

Deceleration

Do we say an object is decelerating if it's increasing it's speed but going in the -ve direction?
Deceleration is a -ve change in velocity, i.e. opposite to the direction of the velocity, but irrespective of the direction of displacement. So no matter what direction the object is travelling in, it's only decelerating if the magnitude of the velocity is decreasing.
Reply 2
Original post by CrazyConnor
Deceleration is a -ve change in velocity, i.e. opposite to the direction of the velocity, but irrespective of the direction of displacement. So no matter what direction the object is travelling in, it's only decelerating if the magnitude of the velocity is decreasing.

So -ve acceleration doesn’t necessarily mean deceleration?
Original post by Leah.J
Do we say an object is decelerating if it's increasing it's speed but going in the -ve direction?

No, deceleration is the rate of speed reduction (scalar) or |acceleration| if in the opposite direction to velocity (vector). In both cases the object is slowing down.

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