Question

An object moving at a constant speed in a circle is _____.

A. accelerating
B. changing its speed
C. not changing its velocity
D. not changing its direction
Please help me idek if this is physics

Answer 1

A. accelerating

Step-by-step explanation:

Acceleration is defined as the ratio between the change in velocity and the time taken for the velocity to change:

`a=(\Delta v)/(\Delta t)`

We must note that the velocity is a vector - so it has both a magnitude (the speed) and a direction.

This means that a non-zero acceleration occurs when:

- the speed changes, or

- the direction changes, or

- both the speed and the direction change

For an object moving at constant speed in a circle, the direction changes, so the object is accelerating.