Velocity and Acceleration - Verbal Response

[razored]

Homework Statement

An automobile is traveling west. Can it have a velocity toward the west and at the same time have an acceleration toward the east? Under what circumstances.

The Attempt at a Solution

I wrote "Yes, the car can be moving west and speeding up with a positive velocity (assuming west is the positive x-axis) and at the same time having a negative acceleration towards the east."

Does my response answer the question? I am having a hard time with this. Can anyone assist me or guide me in the right direction?

Thanks beforehand.

 

[johnj7]

You seem to have the correct grasp on velocity and acceleration. I would just be careful about using the wording "speeding up," as it seems to imply changing/increasing velocity when really in your case the car is slowing down, as it has an acceleration to the east

 

[baba89]

Yes, your response does answer the question correctly. It is possible for an object to have a velocity in one direction and an acceleration in the opposite direction. This can happen if the object is changing its velocity, but still moving in the same direction. In this case, the car is moving west, but its velocity is increasing in the positive direction (west) while its acceleration is acting in the negative direction (east). This could occur if the car is slowing down while still moving west. It is important to remember that velocity and acceleration are vector quantities, meaning they have both magnitude and direction, so they can act in different directions at the same time.