A roller coaster starts down a hill at 10 m/s. Three seconds later, its speed is 32 m/s. What is the roller coaster’s acceleration?
a = vf - vi
t
a = vf - vi
t
1 Answer
Aug 3, 2017
Explanation:
We're asked to find the (constant) acceleration of the roller coaster, given its final and initial velocities.
To do this, we can use the kinematics equation
ul(v_x = v_(0x) + a_xt
where
-
v_x is the final velocity -
v_(0x) is the initial velocity -
a_x is the acceleration (what we're trying to find) -
t is the time interval
We know:
-
v_x = 32 "m/s" -
v_(0x) = 10 "m/s" -
a_x = ? -
t = 3 "s"
Plugging in known values:
32 "m/s" = 10 "m/s" + a_x(3color(white)(l)"s")
a_x = (32color(white)(l)"m/s" - 10color(white)(l)"m/s")/(3color(white)(l)"s") = color(red)(ulbar(|stackrel(" ")(" "7.33color(white)(l)"m/s"^2" ")|)
