PROBLEM
A car accelerates from 50mph to 80mph in 5 seconds. Find the car's acceleration.
STEP 1
Assumptions1. The initial speed of the car is50 mph. The final speed of the car is80 mph3. The time taken for this change in speed is5 seconds4. We need to convert the speeds from mph to m/s to calculate acceleration in standard units
STEP 2
First, we need to convert the initial and final speeds from miles per hour (mph) to meters per second (m/s). We can do this by multiplying the speed in mph by a conversion factor of0.44704.
Speedm/s=Speedmphtimes0.44704
STEP 3
Now, plug in the given values for the initial and final speeds to calculate these in m/s.
Initialspeedm/s=50mphtimes0.44704Finalspeedm/s=80mphtimes0.44704
STEP 4
Calculate the initial and final speeds in m/s.
Initialspeedm/s=50mphtimes0.44704=22.352m/sFinalspeedm/s=80mphtimes0.44704=35.7632m/s
STEP 5
Now that we have the initial and final speeds in m/s, we can calculate the acceleration. Acceleration is the change in velocity divided by the time taken for this change.
Acceleration=(Finalspeed−Initialspeed)/Time
STEP 6
Plug in the values for the final speed, initial speed, and time to calculate the acceleration.
Acceleration=(35.7632m/s−22.352m/s)/5s
SOLUTION
Calculate the acceleration.
Acceleration=(35.7632m/s−22.352m/s)/5s=2.68224m/s2The acceleration of the car is 2.68224m/s2.
Start understanding anything
Get started now for free.