A Particle Traveling Around A Circle At Constant Speed Will Not Experience An Acceleration. True Or False?

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A Particle Traveling Around A Circle At Constant Speed Will Not Experience An Acceleration. True Or False?

Answer: False.

Explanation

False. Acceleration is a vector quantity and it describes the change in velocity, either in its magnitude (speed) or in its direction, or both.

In our case, the particle is traveling in a uniform circular motion, meaning that the direction of the velocity changes constantly while its magnitude (the speed) is constant, so, due to the change in the direction, there will always be an associated acceleration (called the centripetal acceleration), even though the speed might be constant.

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