Does an object slow down when it changes directions?

Question

An object accelerates when changes speed and also when it changes directions, so is it reasonable to assume the act of changing directions slows the object down? For example, an object travels north at 5m/s and then turns to north east It decelerates?

Answer 1

It might. Might also speed up. Understand the physics. Because it's changing directions there is an applied net force acting on the object. If there were no net force, the object would not change directions (Newt's First Law of Motion).



So the direction and magnitude of the applied force could be such that, in addition to the component that causes it to turn, there could be a vector component that's slowing it down or speeding it up. And for that matter, that other component might not exist so the object doesn't change speed at all. In which case it'd be just changing direction. ANS.

Answer 2

.As per Newton 1st law a force is required for a mass in motion to change direction. This can only occur in collisions where there is a division of energy between the masses, one mass slows down and the other mass speeds up in another direction. An example of this phenomenon is in a billiard game

.

In the case of a moving car mass moving straight and then turning there is a collision with the tires and the pavement some mass is lost in the tires. without friction the car cannot change direction.



In the case of the motion of the earth both the motion of the Sun and the motion of our galaxy interact so that the Earth follows a cycloid orbital path. The speed of the earth varies in the path and by the same token its mass increase due to the mass absorbed from celestial bodies radiation.

Answer 3

No, your car changes directions on a freeway constantly without slowing down.

If a plane leaves SF and flies due north at 550 MPH it will suddenly change from N to S without slowing down or turning at the North Pole.

Answer 4

No. It will not slow down or accelerate on its own.

Answer 5

What do you mean by "slow down"?

If you mean that the MAGNITUDE OF THE VELOCITY becomes less then this is quite obviously an absurd statement.



You also use the term "decelerates".



ALL changes in velocity in physics are called an acceleration. It is a vector with a magnitude and a direction.

Neither decelerate, nor speed up ( nor even slow down) have a real place in this subject.

They refer to variations of SPEED not of velocity.



So an is moving to the North at 5m/s. It passes a bomb located to the west and behind the object.

The bomb explodes and the bike is pushed forwards and sideways.

It is now moving at North East 50 m/s



Hmmmm is it going slower? No.



OK Instead of the bomb I roll around a bend. My direction changes. But my speed remains unaltered because energy is conserved and the act of changing direction does not affect this.





Finally I am riding along the road and there in front of me is a truck load of feather pillows. I pull to the left to try to avoid hitting it but I fail.

THUMP I hit the pillows and I fall off to the left. Did I slow down when I hit the pillows.

of course. The pillows absorbed my energy.



So in the cases ( whether or not direction was changed ) add energy and speed increases, conserve energy and speed is constant, remove energy and speed decreases.



Everything else is just a smokescreen to obfuscate and equivocate over the rather obtuse and arcane properties of common usage of non scientific concepts.

Answer 6

No. The earth travels in a circle around the sun. It is accelerating because its direction is changing, but its speed is constant.

Answer 7

That sounds like something Zeno would say.

If you're walking north and are hit from the southwest by a bus 10 times your speed, you will certainly speed up while changing directions.

But if the collision is from the northwest then you might slow down for a moment before going the opposite direction.

(I do not condone carrying out this experiment)

Conclusion is: it depends.

Answer 8

An object moving in a circle can be moving at constant speed. The velocity is changing because it is changing direction, but the magnitude of its velocity (its speed) can be constant.

Answer 9

No, it can maintain and increase its speed. BUT. it's speed in that one direction will slow.

If your object is traveling north and turns east , it will have to slow down and stop going north.



If it travelling north and then turns north east, it will either slow down in its speed northward and maintain its 5m/s overall speed OR it can accelerate so its speed north is still 5m/s but its speen north east is faster than that