Answer
Refer to the diagram below:
Work Step by Step
The ball falls freely for three stories. Upon impact, it quickly decelerates to zero velocity while compressing, then accelerates rapidly while re-expanding. As vectors, both the deceleration and acceleration are an upward vector. The downward and upward motions of the ball are shown separately in the figure. The increasing length between the dots during downward motion indicates an increasing average velocity or downward acceleration. On the other hand, the decreasing length between the dots during upward motion indicates acceleration in a direction opposite to the motion, so the average velocity decreases.
