Re: Questions on Neg. and Pos. Acceleration

[Peter Vajk <vajk@IX.NETCOM.COM>]

Marc Kossover <marck9@IDT.NET> wrote:

> > Is it possible for an object to have a negative acceleration while
> > increasing in speed?
> Yes,  if you put your car in reverse and floor it.

> YARG! This is just the sort of thinking that most of the people here are
> trying to avoid -- the misconception that going in reverse is
> automatically negative acceleration. It is if you define backwards as the
> negative direction, but you are under no requirement to do so.

Yes, I do agree that it is necessary in this context to DEFINE the
algebraic signs of forward and backward before the above examples,  and
I do that (and assume most others do as well).   My REAL point was, that
people were getting hung up on pedantic details and the ins and outs of
the pedagogy,  without ever giving a simple, physical answer to the
question.

Peter Vajk