Acceleration is a change in velocity. When you press the gas pedal or brake, you feel positive or negative acceleration. When you turn the wheel, you feel sideways acceleration.
Another analogy is force: F=ma. You feel a force if you accelerate, brake, or turn the wheel; all three induce acceleration as defined in physics.
Breaking doesn’t cause acceleration, it just causes damage.
So something slowing down is acceleration?
I still don’t get it. Surely the definition of acceleration is a lot more than just a change in velocity.
But I’m just a dumb ass so don’t listen to me.
Yeah, I get what you mean. So, “acceleration is how fast an object’s speed changes”. See, hitting the brakes or the gas are both acceleration, physics-wise. But not usually how we talk about it.
It’s easier to grasp when you’re doing the calculations.
You’re pretty smart to ask and dig deeper!
Slowing down is negative acceleration if that helps.