2. Acceleration baby!!!!

3. So what is acceleration? The rate of change in velocity (and also a change in direction). Speeding up or slowing down It's basically just change in velocity over time.

4. A Common Misconception... Sports announcers will occasionally say that a person is accelerating if he/she is moving fast. Yet acceleration has nothing to do with going fast. A person can be moving very fast and still not be accelerating. Acceleration has to do with changing how fast an object is moving.

5. Describe in your notes an example of acceleration you have experienced. So why do you think you were accelerating? (Explain in scientific terms)‏

6. So I bet you want the formula now don't you?! Acceleration = Final Velocity – Initial Velocity Time The units of acceleration are expressed in velocity units per time units. For example, all of these are units for acceleration: m/s/s OR m/s 2 mi/hr/s km/hr/s (the black part is the unit for velocity and the red is the time unit) ‏

7. So here's our example problem that we'll work through together:  Acceleration = Velocity(final) – Velocity(initial) ‏  Time  The final velocity is 26m/sec and the initial velocity is 10m/sec (the key word here is LATER!!!) ‏  Acceleration = 26m/s – 10m/s = 16m/s  2s 2s  So using our acceleration formula we find the roller coaster's acceleration to be 8.0m/s 2

8. Now turn to the person sitting next to you and explain to them the units used for acceleration. Why do you think acceleration is given in these terms?

9. We kind of hinted at this earlier, but is all acceleration positive? Why do you think that? DECELERATION Can you think of an example of deceleration? Share your example with the person in front of you and discuss your answers. NO!!! Not all acceleration is positive. Some can be negative and we call negative acceleration...............................................

10. What is happening to an object that is first accelerating, then decelerating? It speeds up (increasing in velocity) ‏ Then it slows down (decreasing in velocity) ‏

11. Keep in mind, deceleration is calculated the same way as acceleration except that it is a NEGATIVE number! (it's basically negative acceleration!)‏