Question

Can a body moving with a constant speed have acceleration?

Answer 1

Yes, a body can have a constant speed and still be accelerating. Acceleration can be either due to a change in speed or due to direction of motion or both. Consider an example of a uniform circular motion. In a circular motion, the body moves with a constant speed but we still say that it is accelerating due to the change in direction

This acceleration is called centripetal acceleration and is given as

$a_c=\frac{v^2}{r}$

where $v$ = constant speed

and $r$ = radius of circle