Can an object have negative acceleration and negative velocity?
Okay, here’s the deal: stick with me and meg because otherwise you’re going astray. BOTH velocity AND acceleration can be positive or negative depending on the case. rocket car (thrusters on the front and the back) driving past us from left to right as we watch. The car is moving at a constant velocity of +X meters per second. (we just defined “to the right” as being the positive direction of motion). The acceleration here is 0 The car then fires it’s front thrusters… slowing it down. It has a negative acceleration at this point (because the change in velocity per the change of time is a negative number since to the right is positive) but it still has a positive velocity. The car comes to a stop and begins to move in the opposite direction (to the left). The car now has a negative velocity since it is moving away from what we have defined as positive. As the thruster continues to fire, the car gains speed… Here’s the important part: the acceleration is STILL negative even though it
