Final answer:
The direction of acceleration for a car speeding up from a stop is in the same direction as its velocity. If the car moves eastward while accelerating, then the acceleration is also eastward.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question is regarding the direction of acceleration taken by a physics teacher's car as it speeds up from a stop to 122 km/h.
If we align ourselves with the conventional positive direction being to the right or eastward (consistent with the use of positive velocities and accelerations in physics problems), an acceleration would be deemed positive if it is in the direction of the positive coordinate axis, which in this case would be east.
Therefore, the car having a measured acceleration of 3.2 m/s2, if it is speeding up, implies that the acceleration is in the same direction as the velocity.
Based on the provided information, if we are considering the direction of the car's movement as the positive direction,
and since it is accelerating (speeding up), we would say that the acceleration is in the same direction as the velocity of the car. Hence, if the car is moving eastward, the acceleration would be eastward as well.