If i throw a ball in a vacuum, will it continue to accelerate all the time?

There is no air resistance to slow it down, so its acceleration and maximum speed will not be affected. It will continue to move faster and faster as long as a force is working on it.

If you throw a ball in outer space, not near a planet or anything, then it just goes on forever in a straight line with the same velocity you threw it at.


[edited by - Waverider on July 22, 2003 2:17:23 PM]

Acceleration is the result of a force acting on an object. When you throw the ball, it is accelerated by the force you exert on it. Once the ball leaves your hand, there is no force acting on it and so no more acceleration. It will simply continue to travel at the same velocity as when it left your hand. Now, if there is a planet or some other large body nearby, then there will be another force acting on the ball: gravity. Since gravity is a force, it produces acceleration, and so your ball will begin to accelerate again.

Just brushing up on some physics and I just wanted to check my assumption was right.

Thanks guys!