Question

A car initially traveling at 43 m/s accelerates to 53 m/s. While speeding up, the car travels 200 m. Calculate the acceleration.

Answer 1

We can find the acceleration of the car from the kinematic equation:

$$v_f^2 = v_i^2 + 2as,$$

here, $v_i = 43 \ \dfrac{m}{s}$ is the initial velocity of the car, $v_f = 53 \ \dfrac{m}{s}$ is the final velocity of the car, $s = 200 \ m$ is the distance traveled by the car and $a$ is the acceleration of the car.

Then, we get:

$$a = \dfrac{v_f^2 - v_i^2}{2s} = \dfrac{(53 \ \dfrac{m}{s})^2 - (43 \ \dfrac{m}{s})^2}{2 \cdot 200 \ m} = 2.4 \ \dfrac{m}{s^2}.$$

Answer:

$a = 2.4 \ \dfrac{m}{s^2}.$