Question

If you are traveling on your bike at 9 meters per second (20 miles per

hour), you slam on your brakes, and it takes you 4.5 seconds to stop. What was your

acceleration?

Answer 1

To calculate acceleration, we use the following formula:

a = change in velocity / change in time = -20 m/s / 4.5 s = -4.44 m/s^2

Since acceleration is a vector quantity, we need to specify the direction as well. Since we are decelerating, we would need to specify that the acceleration is in the opposite direction of the initial velocity. Therefore, our acceleration is -4.44 m/s^2 in the opposite direction of our initial velocity of 9 m/s.