Ask Experts Questions for FREE Help !
Ask
    natasha0192's Avatar
    natasha0192 Posts: 1, Reputation: 1
    New Member
    		  
    #1

    Jun 11, 2009, 09:01 PM
    Acceleration vs Displacement
    Just done crash cart experiment with ticker tape.

    Question reads, "Assuming that the acceleration is constant, then so long as we use the same time interval in each case, displacement will be proportional to acceleration. Explain why we can say that displacement is proportional to acceleration in this experiment".

    Thanks :)
    Perito's Avatar
    Perito Posts: 3,139, Reputation: 150
    Ultra Member
    		  
    #2

    Jun 12, 2009, 06:08 AM

    This sounds like one of those problems in which semantics plays a big part.

    The equation for displacement with time (initial velocity = 0) is:



    This indicates that displacement is proportional to the acceleration if time is a constant. But time isn't a constant. It increases. The displacement is also proportional to the square of elapsed time. So, I'm not even sure that we can say that displacement is proportional to acceleration. Maybe it has something to do with the particular experiment that you're doing. If you could, somehow, say that time was a constant, then you'd have the traditional formula



    And displacement would be proportional to acceleration. But that seems weird to me.
Not your question? Ask your question View similar questions
 

Question Tools Search this Question
Search this Question:

Advanced Search


Check out some similar questions!

Finding average acceleration and point acceleration [ 1 Answers ]

A car initially traveling eastward turns north by traveling in a circular path at uniform speed as in the figure below. The length of the arc ABC is 260 m, and the car completes the turn in 40.0 s. I need to find the acceleration at a point 35 degrees below the horizontal in terms of vectors I...

Displacement, Velocity, and Acceleration [ 2 Answers ]

The altitude of a hang glider is increasing at a rate of 6.90 m/s. At the same time, the shadow of the glider moves along the ground at a speed of 14.0 m/s when the sun is directly overhead. Find the magnitude of the glider's velocity in m/s.:(

Find displacement [ 1 Answers ]

A rock is dropped from rest into a well. a. the sound of the splash id heard 2.40s after the rock was relaesed from rest. How far below to top of the well is the surface of the water? 9speed of sound in air at ambient temperature is 336m/s) b. what if? If the travel time for the sound is...

Substituting derivative of acceleration for acceleration [ 1 Answers ]

Can the derivative of acceleration be subsituted for a in f=ma?

View more questions Search