​PG
When you're riding your bike down a hill its easy to see acceleration. Acceleration is what causes an object to speed up or slow down (known as deceleration). In the case of the bike, if you were to start at the top of the hill and not pedal, then gravity would cause you to speed up. Gravity can also make you slow down, for example, if you were to approach the bottom of the hill at speed and stop pedalling, then the bike would start to slow down due to gravity when you start to go up the hill on your bike.
​BACKGROUND
Acceleration
See gravity and forces in action with this cool mini game!
Terms
velocity

acceleration

inclined plane

mass
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gravity
The speed at which an object moves as well as it's direction (m/s [left])

The rate of the increase/decrease in the speed of an object (m/s^2 [left])

A simple machine that is also known as a ramp

The weight of an object (kg)

The pull of the earth on an object causing it to accelerate downwards (9.80m/s^2 [down])​
Below are some interesting animations that you might like to play with before the experiment to make sure you understand all the concepts involved! (you need to download the file and enable the Java plugin)