What Does Negative Acceleration Mean?

[DeJessica]

Acceleration has direction, and a negative value simply indicates that the direction of acceleration differs from the direction of velocity. The negative sign denotes the direction of acceleration. Below are relevant details: 1. Acceleration: Acceleration is a physical quantity in physics, a vector primarily used in classical physics, generally represented by the letter 'a', with the unit of meters per second squared in the International System of Units. Acceleration is the rate of change of the velocity vector with respect to time, describing how quickly the direction and magnitude of velocity change. 2. In linear motion: If the initial velocity direction is taken as the positive direction, in accelerated linear motion, the acceleration is positive, meaning it is in the same direction as the initial velocity; in decelerated linear motion, the acceleration is negative, meaning it is opposite to the initial velocity direction. There is no inherent connection between the direction of acceleration and the direction of velocity, meaning the direction of acceleration may be the same as or different from the direction of velocity.