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Acceleration and Forces |
 
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An object that is changing its velocity is accelerating. This is more confusing because of how acceleration is used commonly. Something that slows down or speeds up, is said to accelerate. Usually, you can say something is speeding up if it has a positive acceleration, and slowing down (decelerating) if it has a negative acceleration. However, that is if you are moving in a positive direction (walking to school, using the previous example). If you are moving in a negative direction though (walking home from school), then a positive acceleration is actually a slowing down while a negative acceleration is actually a speeding up. Again, this is because acceleration is a vector quantity as well.
So if you start running to school through the snow and you figure out that you reached a speed of 2 meters per second (m/s) in about 10 seconds, then your acceleration is 0.2 m/s2 (2 m/s divided by 10 s). It is usually read as 0.2 meters per second per second. I know that doesn't really roll off your tongue very easily but who ever said science does. But at least you get the idea.
All accelerations are caused by forces. A force is basically a push or a pull on an object. For example, if you wanted to accelerate (or decelerate) a 1000 kg car at 2 m/s2, you would need 2000 Netwons (N) of force (1000 kg multiplied by 2 m/s2 = 2000 N).
Clyde Law, Chetan Taralekar, Jim WangMelanie Krieger, Chhaya Taralekar