Question

What does negative acceleration mean?

Answer 1

1. Acceleration is defined as the rate of change in velocity.
2. $\mathrm{Acceleration}\left(\mathrm{a}\right)=\frac{\mathrm{Change}\mathrm{in}\mathrm{velocity}}{\mathrm{Time}\mathrm{interval}}$.
3. If the velocity of a body at a time ${\mathrm{t}}_1$ is $v_1$ and the velocity of a body at a time ${\mathrm{t}}_2$ is$v_{\mathit{2}}$.
4. $\mathrm{a}=\frac{{\mathrm{v}}_2-{\mathrm{v}}_1}{{\mathrm{t}}_2-{\mathrm{t}}_1}$.
5. When an object slows down, the acceleration will be in the opposite direction of velocity.
6. We can also say that ${\mathrm{v}}_1>{\mathrm{v}}_2$.

Therefore, the acceleration will be negative when velocity is decreasing.