Question

It’s Halloween and time for the costume dance and you just can’t wait. You think you have everything planned perfectly – and are dressed like GREASE! On your way to the dance though there is some slow driving person in front of you, so you slam on the gas going from 30. mi/hr to 60. mi/hr. Luckily your date brought a stop watch and told you the whole thing took place in 10.5s. What is your acceleration and how far did you date go?

Answer 1

1.3 m/s², 210 m

Step-by-step explanation:

Average acceleration is change in velocity over change in time.

First, convert to SI units.

30. mph ≈ 13.4 m/s

60. mph ≈ 26.8 m/s

a = Δv / Δt

a = (26.8 m/s - 13.4 m/s) / 10.5 s

a = 1.28 m/s²

Rounded to 2 sig-figs, your acceleration is 1.3 m/s².

The distance traveled is:

x = x₀ + ½ (v + v₀)t

x = (0 m) + ½ (26.8 m/s + 13.4 m/s) (10.5 s)

x = 211 m

Rounded to 2 sig-figs, you and your date traveled 210 m.