Blast into 2026: Conquer the Astronomy Challenge – Your Cosmic Adventure Awaits!

Acceleration is indeed defined as a change in velocity over time. This means that acceleration refers not only to an increase in an object's speed but also to any change in its direction of motion or a decrease in speed (deceleration). Velocity is a vector quantity, which means it has both magnitude and direction. Therefore, if either the speed or the direction of an object changes, it is experiencing acceleration.

This definition captures the comprehensive nature of how acceleration operates in physics. In practical terms, if a car speeds up, slows down, or turns corners, it is undergoing acceleration regardless of whether its speed is increasing or decreasing.