How to Calculate Acceleration of a Car
What is the acceleration of a car that starts from rest and travels a distance of 110 meters in 5.21 seconds?
Can you determine the acceleration using the given data?
Final answer:
The acceleration of the car, which starts from rest and travels a distance of 110 meters in 5.21 seconds, can be calculated using the equation of motion. The calculated acceleration is approximately 8.05 m/s^2.
Explanation:
The question involves concepts of kinematics, specifically, calculating acceleration given time and distance. In physics, we have a set of equations known as the 'equations of motion' to solve problems like this. One such equation is:
s = ut + 0.5at^2
Where:
- s is distance travelled,
- u is initial velocity,
- t is time, and
- a is acceleration.
Since the car starts from rest, initial velocity (u) is 0, leaving:
s = 0.5at^2
From this equation, we can solve for acceleration (a) with given values for s (110m) and t (5.21s):
a = 2s / t^2 = 2*110 / (5.21)^2 = 8.05 m/s^2