The article “How can a slower runner catch a faster one?” published by Scientific American explains the concept and importance of acceleration, one of several key roles in Kinematics. Kinematics is the study of how something is moving. When using kinematics you are taking into account of things such as how fast an object is moving, how far the object will go, how long it will take the object to travel that distance. The article primarily focuses on acceleration. Acceleration is a change in velocity, which is the speed of an object that is moving in a certain direction. The article introduces the topic by discussing that everyone has experienced acceleration at least once in their life’s, that it is the most fun part of kinematics. The author first demonstrates…show more content… It is expressed that some people will naturally be fast runners, and others will be slow runners, but because of acceleration the slower person has the ability to catch up to the faster paced runner. Another example that is demonstrated is the relationship between predator’s and prey. The prey is the weaker link between the two, however if the prey can accelerate to a higher speed than it normally would run at, it has the possibility to escape from being the predator’s dinner. Not only is the predator vs prey a common example of acceleration, but so is football. Without the acceleration of a running back, football wouldn’t be as interesting to watch. If the running back does not accelerate they will never make it past the defensive lineman that are attempting to tackle them. Therefore football would be more like a wrestling match. Fans would be watching to see who will not be taken down by the lineman, as opposed to who will be able to run past the lineman by accelerating and running to the end zone for a touchdown. In the article a linebacker is compared to a lion, while the running back is a