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acceleration



An "out of the box" lesson:
Consider the following vertical, one dimensional motion:

y(t) = 200t/3 - 5t^2 + (t^3)/6 -(t^4)/480

Take two derivatives and plot y(t) , v(t) , and a(t) from t=0 to 40.
Observe that the thing seems to "hang" momentarily in the air:
At t=20 the object has reached the top of its path.
It then turns around and falls.

But at t=20, both the velocity and the acceleration are zero!

This should disabuse one of (sometimes spoken, sometimes implied) arguments
that the acceleration cannot be zero at a turnaround point.

PS. Follow this presentation with the observation that there is nothing
inherently special about the turnaround point in a free fall vertical toss
as observed from the ground. Go to the inertial frame of a vertically
moving helicopter and you can make any event in the ball's travel the
turnaround point (or eliminate the turning point altogether).

Bob Sciamanda
Physics, Edinboro Univ of PA (Em)
http://www.velocity.net/~trebor/
trebor@velocity.net