Log in

View Full Version : What is a velocity at the first point?


liefshatan
May 4, 2011, 06:59 PM
The makers of a certain automobile advertise that it will accelerate from 15 to 50\hr.in 13sec.whats the acceleration in ft\sec. squared

smoothy
May 5, 2011, 05:09 AM
Read this first: Expectations for the Homework Help board
Do not simply retype or paste a question from your book or study material

We won't do your homework questions for you.
You were given the assignment for you to learn.

If you come up with your own answer and post it for us to critique that is within reason.

If you have some SPECIFIC questions that you couldn't find or didn't understand, we may help with that.
But this is your assignment, so show us you have at least attempted to complete it on your own.

Thank you.

Unknown008
May 5, 2011, 09:30 AM
what is a velocity at the first point?

It's given in your problem, it's '15\hr' though I have no idea what you meant there :rolleyes:

RPVega
May 5, 2011, 10:52 AM
acceleration = a = (v2 - v1) / t;
In other words, acceleration is the rate of change of velocity, per unit of time.
v2 = 50 mph = 50 mi/hr
v1 = 15 mph = 15 mi/hr
t = 13 sec
You must first convert v2 and v1 from mi/hr to ft/s.
v2 = (50 mi/hr)*(5280 ft/3600s) = 73.33 ft/s
v1 = (15 mi/hr)*(5280 ft/36002) = 22.0 ft/s
a= (v2 - v1) / t = {(73.33 - 22.0) ft/s} / 13s
a= (51.33 ft/s) / 13s = 3.948 ft/ s^2

Unknown008
May 5, 2011, 11:26 AM
RPVega, I know you mean good, but since you're around for quite some time now, the helpers here try not to do the homework/work/assignment of the students who come here. What we usually look for is an interactive session with the asker and try make himself/herself 'see' the way to get the answer.

For one, students can't be given questions without the proper introduction to the topic. They should be able to solve the problem and that's why we go little by little where possible.

I know that here, the question is to find the acceleration, but the fact that the OP asked for the initial velocity in the title suggests that (s)he is confused about something and through my post, I wanted him/her to see that (s)he has all the values required to find the acceleration.

I hope you understand that. There's a Chinese proverb that says, "Fish for someone hungry and he won't be hungry today, teach him to fish and he never will be hungry." Or something around those lines, if you see what I mean :)