- #1
Strange design
- 18
- 0
Good afternoon all,
For those of you that teach physics, if an object has an initial velocity of - 5m/s and a final velocity of -20 m/s, do you consider the velocity to be increasing or decreasing in this case?
I view this to be strictly defined mathematically, that is that the acceleration is negative, therefor I describe this as a decreasing velocity and an increasing speed in the negative direction.
Both the HS physics teacher I student taught under, and the physics teachers where I teach now, regard this as an increasing velocity. I continue to go in circles with them trying to reconcile this. Essentially, they interchange speed and velocity. Both of these gentleman have been teaching physics for 20+ years, so I am trying to take a humble approach here and see if there is something I am missing. Am I missing something?
How do you teach it?
Thanks.
For those of you that teach physics, if an object has an initial velocity of - 5m/s and a final velocity of -20 m/s, do you consider the velocity to be increasing or decreasing in this case?
I view this to be strictly defined mathematically, that is that the acceleration is negative, therefor I describe this as a decreasing velocity and an increasing speed in the negative direction.
Both the HS physics teacher I student taught under, and the physics teachers where I teach now, regard this as an increasing velocity. I continue to go in circles with them trying to reconcile this. Essentially, they interchange speed and velocity. Both of these gentleman have been teaching physics for 20+ years, so I am trying to take a humble approach here and see if there is something I am missing. Am I missing something?
How do you teach it?
Thanks.