you are driving north then without changing speed, you round a curve and drive east, do you accelerate?

Question

please explain

Answer 1

Yes...as said above. Acceleration is when velocity changes over time a = dv/dt.

But velocity is a vector (v) having both speed (magnitude) and direction. We can write this as v(V,theta) and dv/dt = V dtheta/dt + dV/dt theta, where V is your speed, the magnitude, and theta is a direction angle (e.g., north = 90 deg and east = 0 deg). v(V,theta) simply is math talk for saying v, the vector, is a function of V, the speed, and theta, the direction angle.

Thus in your case, a = dv/dt = V dtheta/dt + dV/dt theta = V dtheta/dt because you specified the angle changed from north to east, but speed did not change. This means dV/dt = 0. Thus, we can see that the acceleraton a = dvdt = V dtheta/dt and there is acceleration strictly from the change in direction term (V dtheta/dt).

When the change in direction is to follow a curved path with a radius of curvature r, the acceleration is found to equal a = V^2/r And when you learn vector analysis, you will discover that the a points inward toward the center of the turn and along the radius. Further, if you multiply both sides by m, the mass of your car, we have ma = mV^2/r = f, which is a force acting toward the center of turn. And that force is called centripetal force.

Answer 2

When an object is moving in a straight line with a constant speed v, there is no acceleration. There is no force acting on it. If a force is applied on the body in the direction of force the body accelerates.

Hence instead of saying that a force is applied on the object we can as well say that an acceleration is acting on the body and hence the speed changes.

If the acceleration is in the direction of the motion of the body then we call it linear motion.
If an acceleration [or force] acts on the body at angle θ, this acceleration [or force] can be resolved into two one along the motion and the other perpendicular to the motion.

Due to the ‘along side component’, the speed increases in the original direction of motion.

Due to the perpendicular component the body is in circular motion.

Therefore, in general, if acceleration is in a direction θ to the direction of the initial motion v of the object, the object now moves in a curved path (not circular).

if θ, = 0 linear motion (straight line motion] alone will take place If θ= 90 then the component in the direction of motion is zero and the object moves in a perfect circle.

I hope now you understand that the acceleration on an object can be in any direction and the motion can be in any form. Straight line motion and circular motion are two extreme cases depending upon the component of force or acceleration.

Only when an object moves with constant speed and that too in a straight line, we can say that there is no acceleration. In all other cases, there is acceleraion.

Answer 3

Changing speed and changing direction of motion are both forms of acceleration.

Changing speed is acceleration in the direction of motion.

Changing direction while keeping the same speed is an acceleration at right angles to the direction of motion.

Acceleration in general is a combination of these two types.

You might wonder why acceleration is used to describe both of these. Left on it's own, things move in a straight line, at constant speed. "Inertia" is the name of that idea.

In order to do anything else, an object has to have a force (a net force, really) act on it. The force changes the motion of the object, it accelerates a mass.

If the force is acting in the direction of motion, then the object changes it's speed. If instead the force acts at right angles to the direction of motion, the speed stays the same, but the object changes direction.

Answer 4

It depends on how you you look at it. There are different kinds of accelerations. It depends on your reference. Think about it some more and see what you get.

Answer 5

yes you are accelerating. any change in speed or direction is considered a change in acceleration.

Answer 6

in reality you actually slow down because of the direction the earth is spinning and how fast its spinning even standing still a person is moving many miles an hour except we don't feel it because the ground is moving just as fast

Answer 7

it depends on how loing the curve is...what speed you are going... basically you're turning right... seeing as this is in physics... i suggest using newtons laws will help you out here...

Answer 8

yes, it's called centripetal acceleration.